Till We're Over
by hghrules
Summary: *third book of the IBMEC (I Blame My Evil Clone) trilogy* "But if you think we're going to give up, you're wrong. We will fight until this entire event is over and done with, 'till we ourselves are over and done with. We will never give up. Never."
1. Prologue

**'Till We're Over**

**Chapter 0: Prologue**

**Sky's POV**

"This alarms me greatly!" I holler.

Silence. Nothing but silence.

"Ahh, this is terrifying!" I shout before pausing, waiting for some kind of response and frowning when I don't get one. "Uh, guys? You got me. Congrats! Now hurry up and cut it out."

They don't stop. Those creepy smiles stay on their faces. Their bodies remain rigidly straight.

"I really, truly appreciate this prank thing," I tell them, but I might as well be speaking to a bunch of inanimate objects, because they don't move a muscle. I continue anyways. "It made me smile. I laughed at the beginning. It helped me forget E-Ty for a moment. But now you are legitimately scaring me, s-so please stop."

Jason's grin stretches. Mitch tightens his grip on his sword, which is held stock-still in front of him. Ian blinks, smirks.

Ty tilts his head, staring at me. "I don't want to stop," he mutters, frowning. "We don't want to stop."

The whole Team frowns at me, and I bite my lip out of fear. "G-Guys, this isn't funny. This stopped being funny several minutes ago."

"Maybe it's not meant to be funny," Jason suggests. "Maybe it's supposed to be serious."

Jason and Ty step forward. Both wield emerald swords, and the sickening smiles have returned to their faces. "Oh, Notch," I mumble. "This has to be a dream. This can't be real."

"Oh, it's real," Seto assures me, stepping up to stand between Jason and Ty. "Nothing has ever been more so."

I take a small step backward, away from my line of friends, only to find that the door I came through has fallen away into nonexistence. My back presses against the black wall that should be budder-colored, and my heart races in my chest.

I don't know why I'm panicking so much. They're just kidding. They're just trying to scare me. They're just joking.

Maybe it's the pure darkness that has now overtaken the room. Maybe it's the blank, soulless look in my friends' eyes. Maybe it's the deafening silence that causes my breath to quicken and my heart to pound.

Maybe it's the other me, the one grinning far too kindly as he steps from behind my friends and thanks me for giving him his second chance.


	2. Ch 1: Pressure

_*sobs* I wrote this on the five-hour car drive this weekend, but as soon as we got to the place, the frickin computer crashed and turned my entire freaking chapter to hashtags D: I mean, I love hashtags, but not nearly that much._

_So, *deep breath* I rewrote it. I think it turned out okay, maybe even better than the original, so whatever._

_En-juh-hoy, my be-ay-yoo-tiful Rulers!_

**Chapter One: Pressure**

**Time: thirty minutes before**

**Place: a crappy jump map**

**Ty's POV**

"Jason, I swear, if you kill me one more time- _Jason_!"

Jason leans over, laughing so hard that it almost looks painful, as I respawn for the millionth time today. Seeing as I haven't got any weapons or armor anymore, really the only thing I can do in return is glare and refuse to talk to the boy. "Hmph."

"Aw, come on, Ty!" Jason calls, trying to hide the rest of his laughter. "You can teleport to me!"

"I hate you."

"Heh. That's okay."

I groan. "Why did I even agree to do this stupid jump map in the first place?" I ask the air as I plop down on the starting platform.

"Uh, because Sky tied us up to a couple of chairs and threatened to feed us to the squids if we didn't," Jason reminds me, and I roll my eyes. That was a rhetorical question, dummy.

I huff. "Sky isn't even here! What kind of idiot puts time and energy into forcing his two best friends to play a map only to fail to show up himself?"

Jason shrugs. "I dunno. Hashtag Truelox?"

I chuckle. "Nah, Sky ships Skylox too much for that."

He shrugs again. "... Well, Skyloxuniver-"

"I am not talking to you anymore," I say, effectively cutting him off as I stand and turn toward the map's exit door. "Where do you think Sky is?"

"I thought you weren't talking to me any-"

"Ugh, fine. I'm talking to you again, now answer the question."

Jason chuckles. "My guess is that he's either mining budder or hunting squids. Or possibly just terrorizing one of our friends."

I snort. "... Actually, that's entirely plausible." Jason teleports to my side, and we walk out of the map together. "I'm gonna go check his house. Can you look in the budder mines?"

"Can't we at least try to call him first?"

"Oh. Yeah, that would probably be smart," I reply, stopping. Jason tugs his phone out of his pocket and immediately dials Sky's number. A minute or two of obnoxious ringing later, Sky's recorded voice blares through the speakers.

"AHH, NO, PLEASE, NO! FOR THE LOVE OF BUDDER, HAVE MERCY! ACK! I'M SORRY, WHOEVER IS CALLING ME, BUT I'M CURRENTLY RUNNING FROM A BUNCH OF – AHH! - SQUIDS, CALL ME BACK LATER!"

After a few seconds of complete silence, Jason and I burst out laughing in scary synchronization. "Oh my gosh," I gasp, "he's such a dork!"

Jason nods, still giggling. "Can we just talk about his acting skills, though? Like, I can't even count how many times I've sprinted all the way to his house just to make sure he was kidding."

"Twenty-Seven."

"What?"

"Twenty-Seven. That's how many times you've dropped everything you were doing to go ensure that Sky wasn't dead."

"No way! That can't possibly be-"

"In this week alone."

"Ah, that makes more sense."

That sparks another fit of laughter, but after a good three minutes of relearning how to breathe, we're finally on our way to Seto's house. Seto is always the first person we go to when we lose Sky, because Seto actually put a tracker in the budder-loving fool's glasses (which he still wears constantly despite not having to hide his eyes anymore) a while ago after he had gone missing ten times in one week. Of course, now that the whole Red Eyes deal is history, Sky could just die and respawn back at home, but Sky would never kill himself for that reason. First of all, there's a bit of trauma about Red Eyes and death that he can't quite get over, but there's also the fact that he doesn't want to lose all the budder that he hides in the back of his inventory. Sky either finds his way home on his own, is found by one of his friends, or simply lives in the middle of the wilderness for all of eternity.

Yeah. He's a bit stubborn.

I pound my fists against Seto's front door impatiently (this is how we always summon Seto, because it often causes him to lose his focus and screw up a spell, which causes him to march up the stairs and glare at us as he flings open the door, which causes us to be amused). "Ack! No!" a voice calls faintly from the direction of the basement, and Jason and I snicker. Then a loud sigh reaches our ears, and soon Seto is tiredly opening the door and shooting us a hostile glare. "What do you guys want?"

"We lost Sky again, and we need you to help us find him," I explain, leading Jason inside. I jump onto the couch and stare expectantly at Seto, waiting for him to do his magicky thingy.

"What? That's like the twenty-seventh time this month!"

"Twenty-eighth, actually."

He sighs again. "Right, whatever. You're all idiots." He lifts his hands the slightest bit, and a transparent orb made of purple wisps of magic forms around each of them. The magic begins to float away from his hands and into the air.

Seto stops.

Confused by the abrupt pause in the spell, I tilt my head to the right a little and stare up at Seto's slightly troubled expression. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"O-Oh," Seto begins, looking distracted. "It's nothing. It's just, I- uh, well, I felt something in the air... Almost like the world was too packed? There's this unwanted pressure in the atmosphere, like there's more on this earth than there was a few seconds ago."

I shrug. "Maybe someone spawned a kid or something."

Seto bites his lip, shakes his head. "No, no, it's not that. See, when someone spawns an animal or another human, the matter used to create it is taken from an unused part of the earth. That keeps the earth's mass steady, it keeps the world from getting too packed. So it can't be that."

Jason puffs up his cheeks with air. "Uh, maybe Notch recently updated the world? Maybe he added a new block. That would affect the mass and matter stuff, right?"

Seto considers this for a moment. Finally, he nods and puts his hands up again. "Maybe. That must be it." The purple swirls around his hands.

He stops again.

He breathes out slowly, shaking his head one more time. "No, it's- it's something else. I've felt it before, I know I have- I just don't know _when_ or _why_. I only wish I had stopped to figure out what this pressure was last time I felt it... I can't do it now, t-too tired for that spell... Notch dang it."

"Wait, you've felt it before?" Jason asks. Seto nods. "Well, the world didn't explode_ then_, did it? We're still here, so clearly nothing bad came of this weird 'pressure.' Just ignore it and go on with life."

Seto thinks about this for a second and then shrugs. "I-I guess... Yeah, I guess you're right." He raises his hands, the purple orbs materialize, and I wait for Seto to pause again. He doesn't though, keeps right on going, and the magic rises into the air and forms a wispy square. Seto reaches out and tugs on the side of the square, planning to open it and look through it like a window just as he always does.

He frowns. "It's- Is it stuck?"

Jason's and my eyes widen. "Oh, no," I whisper.

Seto pulls harder, and a few seconds later, the window flies open, revealing Sky wandering around the city and asking where the heck the city gates are. Jason and I are in hysterics, laughing insanely about how we were about to freak out about nothing more than Sky getting lost in the crowded city.

A familiar hand is raised above the crowd, and soon Mitch is making his way to Sky and directing him towards the gates. Sky thanks him profusely and then darts off, probably flipping out about being late for the jump map.

Seto glares at us. "You didn't even check the city?"

I shrug, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, we're lazy."

He sighs. "Yes, yes, you are. I'm going to go take a nap – that spell took a lot more out of me than usual, but, then again, I've been more tired lately. I think I need to stop staying up so late. Have fun at the map!"

"Oh, we are _not_ playing that map again," I growl, walking out the door and waiting for Jason to follow. "Have a nice nap, though!"

Seto nods tiredly in acknowledgment and then waves as he heads back downstairs, and I close the door gently after Jason steps outside. "Ready to go meet Sky?" I ask him.

He nods, imitating Mario as he replies with, "Let's-a go!"


	3. Ch 2: I'LL BE THERE FOR YOUUUU

**Chapter Two: I'LL BE THERE FOR YOUUUU**

**Time: three minutes and eight seconds later (in relation to the last chapter)**

**Place: outside the jump map**

**Ty's POV**

"SKY!" I scream. "WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU!?"

Jason rolls his eyes. "Ty, that's not gonna work. If he's nearby, we wouldn't need to scream, but if he's not nearby, then he won't hear us screaming. Either way, it's pointless."

I huff. "Well, what are we supposed to do?"

"I dunno, maybe we can go back to Seto's house and ask him to do the spell again."

"No, no. He said he was super tired, I don't want to disturb him again. He wasn't exactly the happiest sorcerer after we realized Sky was just in the city."

"Yeah, but now we know that Sky _isn't_ just in the city. At least, not anymore."

"Right. That seems to be an issue."

Jason hits his forehead with his palm and then drags his hand slowly down his face. "You... are an idiot."

I frown. "Hey, aren't you usually moderately optimistic and happy? You're acting like me right now."

"Ow, big words."

"And that was something Sky would say!"

"I need to have more alone time."

"Probably."

…

"Whoa, hey, Sky!" I realize as my eyes widen.

"Right, right! I almost forgot about him!" Jason says, nodding his head.

"Well, if he's not in the city, and he's not at his house, mine, or yours, and he's not here at the jump map – well, where else would he be? He said he'd do the jump map with us, so shouldn't he be somewhere we'd be?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I don't know, I mean- you'd think. But Sky is weird, he's probably half-way across the world."

I sigh. "Sadly, Sky is so stupid that that idea is actually plausible. Uh, but maybe one of the paopeoap dklf jfi di di iwjnot know how I was wwriting witho;ut watchin htek eyboard or thinking of my words, I just ranomly picked words and wrote them dow because writer's block also I did not proofread this paragraph because why freaking not im watching friends "I feel terrible, im a horrible rible rible person," said chandler. "I'm sorry what" said Rachel becaue this is the cheesecake episode and I love this omg it's so cool this is what happens when Hannah gets writers block rawr ugh "I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU, CAUSE YOURE THERE FOR ME TOOOO- OOOOH"

I sigh. "Sadly, Sky is so stupid that that idea is actually plausible. Uh, but maybe one of our other friends knows where he is? Then we wouldn't have to bother Seto."

"Mm, that's a good idea. You call the Ssunkipz and I'll call Merome?" Jason asks.

I nod and pull out my cellphone, quickly dialing Ian's number. "Hey, Derp, where are you?"

Ian's voice growls through the phone, "I am _not_ a derp, it's a con_dition_!"

I roll my eyes. "Right, uh-huh, whatever. Where are you?"

"Quentin and I are at that underwater cave he found, we're making normal cake. He says my cake is weird."

"Oh, it is." He sighs. "Is Sky there?"

"No, sorry," Ian replies.

"Dang it," I mutter. "Do you or the fish have any idea where he is?"

"I'm not a fish, I'm an _amphibian!"_ calls a faint voice.

"Uh, no, we don't know where he is," Ian says, seeming distracted. Then I hear him say, in a voice that sounds farther away from the phone, "Fish, calm down, just focus on stirring the batter or whatever."

Quentin starts yelling, so I mumble a goodbye and hang up.

"Any luck with those two?" Jason asks, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

"Nope," I sigh. "How about the Merome?"

"No luck there, either," Jason sighs. "What about- uh, let's just try calling Sky again?"

Three minutes later, we're listening to his voice mail machine. "JASON AND TY, IF THIS IS YOU, PLEASE KNOW THAT I AM EXTREMELY SORRY FOR MISSING THE JUMP MAP AND ALSO SQUIDS ARE MURDERING ME BRUTALLY... WITH SPOONS, SO PLEASE EXCUSE MY FORGETFULNESS."

I sigh. Jason does, too. Like, at the exact same time.

We exchange a glance.

"You know, it's getting creepy-" I start.

"I know, I know," Jason says hurriedly. "Don't think about it too much. If we give too much attention to it, Sky and the others will start shipping Truelox again."

I nod. "You're right. Okay, so, let's focus on Sky – should we maybe try to go find Bodil? Maybe he thought we were doing one of Bodil's maps, so he went looking for him."

"That's possible," Jason agrees. "Or maybe Bashur or someone – and sometimes Sky gets distracted by sad memories, and he ends up peering into the water at the bottom of the Cliff."

"He's been _so sad_ about the whole E-Ty thing," I say quietly. "I mean, of course, I miss him, too, but not nearly as much as Sky does. Those two were actually really good friends."

"Yeah..," Jason breathes, thinking back to the whole deal. E-Ty used to be our enemy, dead set on murdering Sky and I (and also setting our entire dimension on fire), but near the end of the entire fiasco, he got attached to Sky and became friends with him. Then he jumped off what we now call 'the Cliff' so he could die and 'rid the world of the Evil Dimension,' therefore freeing Sky from the curse of the Red Eyes.

It's complicated.

"Dang it," Jason whispers. "I have a sinking feeling that Sky is in deep trouble and that the author desperately wants to write about it, but she really has to go do something else, because procrastination kept her from finishing this on time!"

I bite my lip. "I guess we'll just have to deal with this filler chapter until next week."

"I guess so."


	4. Ch 2 and a half: The Nightmares

_After the longest unannounced hiatus ever..._

_(ugh I hate hiatuses, I am so sorry, im a horrible person and you should feel free to hate me because you guys didn't deserve that crappy excuse for a chapter two or that horribly long wait and I just ugh)_

_I'm back._

_And I have a proper Chapter Two for you guys! I know some of you actually got a kick out of the old, weird Chapter Two, so I'll leave it up, but I'd highly suggest that you read this chapter as well. Forget anything you read last chapter (if you havent forgotten already :/) and read this one instead – it has actual plot involved. It's important. You will be overly confused if you don't read it._

_Then again, the concept for this book is confusing in itself._

_Oh, well. XD_

_ALSO, UM, I WROTE A SONG FOR THIS BOOK. :D I got really into it on this eleven hour drive I had to go on. (-.-) And during that, I wrote all the way up through chapter six! I will probably post chapter three immediately after this because you guys deserve it after that humongous wait._

_ugh this hotel wifi tho XD ANYWAYS._

_En-juh-hoy, my be-ay-yoo-tiful, extremely patient Rulers! Welcome back to the land of weekly updates._

**Chapter Two ALT: The Nightmares**

**Time: three minutes and _nine_ seconds later (in relation to chapter one)**

**Place: outside the jump map**

**Ty's POV**

I huff, shaking my head. "I don't get it, Jason. We literally _just_ watched him walk towards the city gates. He couldn't have possibly gotten lost between there and the jump map, right?"

Jason sighs, hanging his head back. "I don't know. It kind of seems like something the idiot would find a way to do."

"Sadly, that's true," I agree, glancing back towards the door of the jump map and hoping to finally see Sky bursting through the doors. But, no, he's still not here. "Or, you know, something might have triggered a couple of memories – he might be back at the Cliff, staring down into the water like he does."

"It must feel terrible," Jason whispers. "Sky had managed to get really close to E-Ty before he died. I mean, E-Ty sacrificing himself for him... For us, the pain that would amount to would probably be pretty close to the pain we'd experience if _Sky_ died."

I close my eyes and try not to remember the day when we thought Sky _had_ died, when Evil-Sky had actually been the one lying, dead as dirt, on the ground, but we hadn't known it. That- that was horrific. It's not something you can really dream a reaction to, not until you actually experience it. I mean, I used to be so scared that someday, somehow, one of my closest friends would die and fail to respawn. I used to imagine them dying and think, "Hey, why aren't I crying? Why aren't I sad?" Ha, I used to worry that I'd be close to emotionless if they died.

And then, when Evil-Sky died and I thought it was Sky...

It would've chosen emotionless over _that_ feeling _any_ day.

"Well, should we check the Cliff, then?" I finally respond, snapping out of my trance.

"That might be a good idea," he answers, and we exit the jump map for the second time today.

**Sky's POV**

"Thanks, Mitch!" I shout over my shoulder as I stumble-sprint toward the city gates. Geez, this city has gotten confusing! It used to be so small, but now it seems as though half a nation has suddenly moved in. The grass by Jerome's tree house has been replaced by the iron of the city floors, and there's a giant horse stable next to my old funeral location, and it's just- this maze of a city is harder to navigate than ever before. Don't worry, though, someday I'll figure it out. Just... not today. After all, I have a jump map to get to!

"Open, open, open," I mutter to the gates as I fiddle with the latches. It only takes a few seconds to get them undone, and then I'm slamming them shut behind me and running the path to Seto's house. "Seto!" I screech, pounding on his door just like I always do.

"Who is it no- Sky?" the overly tired sorcerer asks as he opens the door for me.

"Yeah, it's me," I reply, forgetting what I was going to ask him. Something about directions..? "Hey, are you all right?"

"Hmm? Of course."

I frown disapprovingly. "Are you sure? 'Cause you really don't _look _all right."

He shakes his head, giving me a smile that is far too forced to fool anyone. "I'm fine, really. I just, uh- I've been having some really taxing nightmares. It affects my attitude and my magic when I don't get enough sleep – heck, a few nights ago I only got an hour of sleep because of this weird pressure that kept me up, and when I woke up in the morning, my magic went all crazy on me and blew up my toaster." He tries to laugh, but it comes out as a cough.

"Well, although that story could have been really funny under different circumstances, I think you need rest right now." I pull him over to the couch and sit him down on it. "So, what's this 'pressure' you mentioned?"

He bites his lip. "I- I don't know, Sky. That's the thing, I don't _know._ I _always_ know when it comes to magical or scientific disturbances in the air – I'm the city sorcerer. I'm _supposed_ to know this stuff."

"Hmm. Maybe it's just _peer_ pressure, then. You know, we don't expect you to know _everything_, Seto. After all, you're only human. A magical human, maybe, but still a human. You can't be perfect."

He sighs. "Yeah, that's- maybe that's it. That must be it." He smiles weakly at me.

Nope, not enough. "That's not it. At least, not all of it," I realize, and he sighs again. "What were those nightmares about? How often do you have them?"

He looks slightly startled that I asked about them. "Well... Uh, every night, usually. Two or three a night. They're mostly composed of-" He hesitates.

"It's okay, Seto, you can tell me. Go on."

He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment and then opens them again. _"I don't know,"_ he whispers, and he sounds so terrified because of it. "I don't know! It's just- it's chaos, Sky! People everywhere! Hardly any light, all the surroundings are black, and the noises- the _noises!_ I can't even see what's going on down there, Sky, I just see the little blurs that must be people. And they _seem_ familiar, and I feel like I should know them, but I can't ever seem to grasp their names or their appearances or even the sounds of their voices.

"But one of those people is going through some kind of horrible shock or betrayal or fear or _something,_ and I get to feel all of it, Sky. And I can hear the muffled voices as they threaten and talk so coldly, in this detached way that just makes that one person shudder and wonder if maybe he's in a dream or something. But I can't tell him that he _is_ in a dream! And sometimes I'm not even sure that would be the truth, if I could tell him. Sometimes it just feels so real...

"And those are the nights, the times when the pressure feels almost... heavier. Like it's about to crash through some thin canopy and fall smack dab into the middle of our city, the middle of our _lives._ It's uncomfortable, it's- unnatural. It shouldn't be here, but it _is_. And I-"

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Sky, I've started rambling. You'll have to forgive me – as I said, I haven't gotten much sleep lately." He tries to laugh again. It doesn't go so well.

"Hmm. Well, yeah, I mean- yeah! That's okay, Seto. I don't mind. But, about those nightmares..." For a moment, I consider mentioning my own nightmares, but then I decide against it. They aren't important right now – right now, we're worrying about Seto. "Maybe try reading a good, happy book before you go to sleep at night?"

He smiles, a real smile, and stands up. "That might do something. Thank you for trying to help, Sky."

"Hey, no problem, I love helping. Seriously, though, if you wake up from a nightmare and need comfort or something, I'm sure someone in Team Crafted will be willing to come over."

Seto nods. "Of course. I'll keep that in mind, thank you. Now, I know you didn't come here to listen to me ramble about dreams. What do you need?"

"Heh. Uh, I kind of forgot where the jump map is located?"

Seto rolls his eyes and snaps his fingers, and a yellowed map appears in my hand. "Jason dunked it in tea to make it look ancient or something. Also, he gave it to you yesterday, but you left it on your couch at home."

"Oh! Right, I forgot about that," I laugh guiltily. I really need to keep better track of my things. "Well, thank you, Seto. Good luck with the sleeping issues."

"Thanks. Bye!"

I wave, and the doors swing shut behind me as I walk out onto the gravel path in front of Seto's house. Now, this map says that the jump map is just to the left of the water slide and rocket ship... Right. Okay, I know where that is.

As I'm walking past the forest, I get a glance of the Cliff, the one where E-Ty jumped for me a couple of weeks ago. I hate that he did that. I would've been fine if I'd just kept the stupid Red Eyes! I mean, yeah, maybe it's nice not having to worry quite as much about dying a permanent death, but it's not worth it – oh, it's not anywhere _near_ worth it.

E-Ty meant a lot to me – almost as much as the real Ty does. I think, if he had stayed, E-Ty and I could have been really, _really_ good friends.

Augh, Notch dang it. Now I'm tearing up. See, this is why I don't walk by this forest as much as I used to. I just try my best to never even look in the general direction. It helps, at least a little.

I haven't been up to the Cliff edge in a little under a week – that's huge for me. Before then, I'd been going up every day, or at least every other day. I kept hoping that, maybe, somehow, someway, he'd come back. He'd crawl out of the water and yell "Surprise!" and I'd shout at him for being a jerk but then we'd be friends again and he'd be _alive._

I bite my lip, thinking it over. It wouldn't hurt to visit the Cliff just one more time, right? Then I won't do it again for a whole week. Baby steps, baby steps.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I'm sitting at the edge of the cliff, legs swinging over the water far below, eyes raking across the chaotic waves. It isn't always so crazy down there – sometimes it's peaceful. Today is not one of those days.

I should probably go. It's getting windy, and I think there might be a storm brewing. It wouldn't do me any good to get swept over the edge and into the water, even if I would just respawn afterward.

I stand up, take a few steps away from the edge, and then collapse on the ground.


	5. Ch 3: Oh, Look at That

_Derp de derp! Rulers, meet "Chapter Three." "Chapter Three," meet Rulers. :3_

_By the way, the coordinates later in the chapter aren't real. I mean, they're real, but they don't lead to the jump map. Mostly because I have yet to build the jump map. :/_

_IT'LL HAPPEN EVENTUALLY!_

**Chapter Three: Oh, Look at That, They're_ Both _Unconscious**

**Time: approximately five minutes later (in relation to the last chapter)**

**Place: the Cliff edge**

**Ty's POV**

"Seto's not answering his phone," Jason panics, calling him a second time. "Seto, come on, what's your deal!?"

"Just run to his house, it's not far away," I command, and Jason drops his phone mid-ring and sprints away from the cliff edge.

"St-Stop!" Sky mumbles, and my attention snaps back to his face. We found him a few feet from the edge of the cliff – and he was totally unconscious. He still is. "W-Worst... worst joke ever..."

"It sure is the worst joke ever! Assuming it's a joke. Please let this be a joke," I plead with him.

"P-Please let this be a joke," he repeats in his sleep, and I frown. I'm tempted to try to shake him awake, but I know that's a big no-no when it comes to unconscious people. But then, what do I do? If I can't shake him, and I can't really move him at all, how am I supposed to help him?

Lightning flashes down into the water below us, and I flinch back. That was close, really close. I need to get Sky out of the storm.

But, while Seto's house is very close at this point, it isn't close enough for me to carry Sky there without hurting him. And, again, I don't want to move him. Jason, hurry up!

Suddenly, my phone starts blaring music, and I dig my hand into each of my pockets in an attempt to find it. Finally, I pull it out and press the button, immediately putting it on speakerphone so I can keep most of my attention on Sky.

"Hello? Seto?" I ask.

"No, it's Jason, I left my phone at the Cliff. But, Ty, Seto is- Something is wrong with him."

"What do you mean?" This can't be good.

"He just- I don't know, he won't wake up! He's passed out against the wall of the lab, and, like- I just can't wake him up, no matter what I do! I slapped him and I rolled him over and I-"

"Notch, Jason, you aren't supposed to do any of those things to an unconscious person!"

"Yeah, but I have to wake him up! Sky is hurt and needs help, and what if Seto is really badly hurt now, too? I can't help either of them if they're both passed out!"

"Ah, maybe we can- Maybe someone in the city can help us?" I wonder, glancing in the general direction of the city.

"Maybe," he whispers. "Ty, I'm really worried. I dumped water on his face and I threw two healing potions at him and I gave him a regen potion and- what else can be done?"

"I don't know! I don't know about any of this stuff, Jason! Augh, all right, but we have to do something... Okay, why don't you grab one of Seto's stretcher thingies and bring it out here? We'll get Sky to Seto's lab, and then we can figure out what to do with them both."

"Okay, good idea. Yeah, that works. All right. Bye."

"Bye-" I begin, but he's already hung up.

I sigh and slide the phone back in my pocket, and then-

Oh. Joy of all joys. It's raining.

Lovely.

Sky makes a weird, scared-sounding noise, and I bite my lip. I have to help somehow! Especially now that it's raining. Sky's gonna get soaked, and that certainly won't do him any good. I mean, Seto gives out a lot of weird medical advice, but I've never once heard him tell us to give an injured person a cold.

Luckily, Jason bursts out of the forest at that very moment, and he's dragging a stretcher behind him. "Here, we'll put it on the ground and gently roll Sky onto it."

"Is that how it's done?" I ask even as we begin to do it.

He shrugs and we roll Sky onto the cloth. "Probably."

I shrug with him and then get ready to lift one end of the stretcher while he lifts the other. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go fast, 'cause this storm does _not_ look good."

I nod my agreement, and soon we're walking through Seto's front door with Sky unconscious between us. "N-No, Ty, p-please!" he mumbles, and I tilt my head.

"Does he not like being carried on a stretcher..?" Jason asks curiously, looking at Sky's expression (which appears to be mostly just terrified).

"Uh, I don't see why he would care. Also, he's unconscious," I point out. "We'll deal with it later. Right now we need to get Sky downstairs with Seto."

A few moments later, Sky and Seto are lying next to each other, and both have failed to wake up. "What now?" I ask as thunder rumbles outside.

"Uh... If you'll search through some of Seto's spell books, I'll go ask around in the city," he suggests.

"All right, yeah. Good luck," I shout as he takes the steps two at a time.

"You, too!" The door slams shut.

**Jason's POV**

I'm about half-way down the path to the city when I realize the storm has come to an overly abrupt stop. What the heck? The sky is literally filled with nothing but the sun and a couple of pure, white clouds. No storm clouds. No thunder. No rain. What the heck?

I stop running to pull my phone out of my pocket when it rings (I picked it back up when I brought the stretcher to Ty). "Ty?"

"They woke up!"

"Woah, awesome! Okay, I'm coming back to the house. By the way, the storm stopped."

"I was wondering why it was so quiet. All right, see you soon!"

"Bye."

I step on the pressure plates in front of Seto's door and practically jump down the stairs. "Seto, Sky!"

They don't answer. They've both sat up at this point, but they're just staring at each other, like something horrible has just happened. Which, I mean, it kind of has. They both passed out. That kind of sucks a little.

"Sky?" Ty asks, crouching down and reaching a hand towards him.

Sky's eyes go wide, and he makes a light squeaking sound as he jumps backwards, ending up pressed against the wall.

"It's okay, Sky," Seto says, though the words are barely audible. He sounds exhausted. "Ty is real. I am real. Jason is real."

"R-Right," Sky whispers, nodding and sending Ty, who seems thoroughly hurt, an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. Where's E-Sky?"

"E-Sky?" I ask.

"He's dead," Ty reminds Sky.

"Oh. Right. Duh." Sky laughs, but it sounds forced, like maybe he doesn't entirely believe us even though he killed E-Sky himself.

"Who was down there?" Seto asks.

"All of you. No, copies of you. And of the rest of Team Crafted. And of me," Sky answers.

Seto bites his lip like he's thinking. "Hmm. I wonder why we're connected like this?"

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Sky replies, shrugging.

Seto ignores the suggestion. "How many times have you had that dream?"

"Uh, every time in the last three weeks that I've tried to sleep."

"So, ever since E-Ty died?" Oh, is this some sort of trauma from his death?

"I guess so. Of course, I've never had the dream after randomly passing out. Before now, that is," Sky says, and this time he legitimately laughs a little.

"Huh. Well, this is... interesting," Seto says, slowly getting to his feet. Ty helps him up, and I walk forward to help Sky.

"Sorry, guys, but I'm just really confused right now," I admit.

Sky opens his mouth to say something, but then Seto quickly interrupts with, "Oh, just a weird nightmare that we both have sometimes. No big deal. It's probably just a mix of memories from the multi-dimensional battle." Sky frowns, but doesn't try to add anything.

"Well, all right," I sigh, but Ty doesn't seem sated at all. In fact, he looks as though he's dead set on interrogating Sky the second they get some time alone.

For the moment, though, he accepts Seto's answer. "Are you guys okay, then?" he asks.

Sky and Seto nod in perfect synchronization. "Just tired is all," Seto says.

"Oh. Um... Well, all right. Try not to randomly pass out again, okay, Sky?" Ty jokes.

"Heh, I'll try my very hardest." Sky grins mischievously, which is concerning, to say the least.

"Are you still up for the jump map? 'Cause we totally understand if you wanna rest or something instead," I say hurriedly, trying to make sure he doesn't feel forced to come along.

Sky looks at Seto questioningly, and the sorcerer nods. "Yeah, I'm up for it if you guys are," Sky finally responds, smiling excitedly. "We've had this thing planned for, like, ever!"

"Meaning two days," Ty says, rolling his eyes, and Seto and I laugh.

"Yeah, well, I was close."

"Not really, Sky," Ty answers, and I shake my head and push them both in the direction of the stairs.

"Come on, you guys can face off when we get to the jump map."

"Sure, just as long as someone other than Sky leads the way."

"Hey, I have a map now!"

"Not that it'll help you," Ty snickers, and Sky sticks out his tongue at him.

"I'll prove to you that I know where I'm going – I'll race you! 1, 2, 3, GO!"

"Hey, no fair, Sky! Wait, hold on!"

"Nope! I'ma beat you this time, Ty!"

Seto and I exchange a glance, and then he nods and rolls his eyes as he unlocks the console on the laboratory wall. I grin thankfully at him and quickly type in, "tp p 456 879 -79" before turning to Seto for confirmation.

"You got it," he says, and I press the button.

"I WIN!"


	6. Ch 4: The Heart-Shaped Derp

_**FORGET ME WILL NOT BE UPDATED UNTIL TOMORROW (Monday). SO SORRY.**_

_*gasp*_

_THIS IS THE CHAPTER OF MILD REALIZATION_

_WOOHOO, SETO, BEING THE FIRST TO FIGURE IT OUT! :D_

**Chapter Four: The Heart-Shaped Derp Comes in Handy Sometimes (also known as "The Attack of the Self-Insert and the Peanut Waffle")**

**Time: a few minutes later (in relation to the last chapter)**

**Place: Seto's laboratory**

**Seto's POV**

If the connections I've made to what Sky said are anywhere near correct, Sky is having the nightmares at the exact same times that I have them. Now, these aren't just normal nightmares – they can't be. We aren't just seeing each other in dreams – we actually aren't seeing each other at all. And yet, somehow, we are sharing the _same_ dream – only I'm watching from above, unable to see or hear well, and he's watching from below.

But we both feel the fear, the betrayal.

As soon as I woke up with Sky sitting next to me as terrified as I've ever seen him, I knew that he was the person down there in my dream, the only person who wasn't evil or a fake. It didn't take long after that to realize that the other characters in the dream must have been other-dimension copies. It _was_ news, however, when Sky revealed that he'd seen his evil self in his dream.

If anything, Sky should have seen the other _Ty_ in his dream.

It doesn't make sense.

And then there's the issue of Sky randomly passing out (at the edge of a cliff, no less – dangerous much?) and the thing with a terrible storm starting and stopping in sync with the dream we had. Plus the strange pressure that completely overwhelmed me when I entered the lab – that's why I passed out.

Maybe... What if Sky went unconscious because _I_ did?

It could be that we are so strongly connected by this nightmare business that he has no choice but to participate in each and every nightmare I take part in. I suppose it would work both ways, too. If Sky falls asleep, I'll have to as well. I guess that explains why I've randomly fallen asleep a couple times in the last few weeks while staying up late and trying to make a new potion. Sky and I will have to work out a designated "bed time" just so that neither of us is interrupted in the middle of an important job or discussion.

So the "Sky randomly passing out" issue can be rather easily resolved. Next up, the storms, which the city has apparently had quite a few of lately. They seem to roll in as soon as Sky and I drift off into dreamland, but we can't stop the dreams until we've fixed the pressure problem. Still, _why_ are the dreams causing random storms?

Onto the pressure problem. It can't be simply another set of dimensional copies, because I've never felt anything like this before, not even when there were a crap-ton of Skys filling up the city. It's something different, something... more than that. Not as in, like, more Skys, but more... more...

I don't know.

Time to hit the books!

I go into another room downstairs and grab a few books off the shelf. After skimming through them, however, I realize there is absolutely nothing in these books pertaining to the current situation. Where else can I find any book on this subject? My library is the most advanced in the town, and these two books are the only two with any information related to pressure, mass, or worldbuilding.

What else can I- oh.

_Oh._

In the city, there is an interesting little heart-shaped building – what is it, something about derps? - that citizens visit occasionally. It's kind of like a tourist attraction – kind of. Local celebrities have recorded in it a few times, and there's a lounge downstairs where people can read or talk or whatever they'd like to do.

But it's more than that – citizens can actually go write their own material to put on the shelves of the lounge.

I've been there before, and most of it is just fiction, fanfiction, or songwriting. There have been a few times, however, when I've come across a nonfiction book transferred from the ancient scribblings found in a citizen's basement. Some of the town elders from the past would write down things they learned or realized about our universe, but they didn't type them out in textbooks as most scholars would have liked – instead, they wrote them down on notebook paper and left them in attics and basements for their descendants to discover almost centuries later.

If I head over to the lounge, I may be able to locate a book with information about this strange pressure I keep feeling.

Ten minutes later, I'm seated in the lounge with four legitimate-looking nonfiction books splayed across my lap.

_The Weight of Worlds_

_The History of Dimensions_

_Pressing Matters_

_The Creation of the Night Owl_

"Hey, I come bearing hot chocolate!" a blonde in an orange shirt announces as he appears out of no where. "Here ya go, Elena. The second book in that series is on that shelf on the right, I think. Time, you want some – nah, you'll just use it to troll someone."

"How would I troll someone with hot chocolate?"

"Knowing you, you'd find a way."

"Time" smirks and drops the subject, apparently agreeing. Then the blonde with the beverages approaches me. "Seto, hey! I haven't seen you here in a while. Want some hot chocolate?"

"No thank you, Pedro. I'm trying to find some information on dimensional pressures." I'm pretty sure this pressure I'm feeling is only being applied to _our_ dimension.

"Ah, well, I guess I can't help much with that. Those are the only four books we have that are even remotely likely to have something on the subje-"

"PIERSON, I LEARNED HOW TO DO A CARTWHEE- OH, NO I DIDN'T," a brunette in a sorceress' robe shouts as she falls into the lounge. "Oof. That was painful. You should put a sponge or something here at the entrance."

"And you should avoid cartwheeling into the lounge."

"It wasn't a cartwheel! It was _almost_ a cartwheel."

Pedro facepalms and turns back to me, smiling apologetically. Then he looks back at the girl. "So, did you actually have a good reason for coming here, or..?"

"Oh, right! Miz found a really old book beneath her house, and it looked important, so she gave it to me to drop off here."

"What's it about?"

"Dimensional pressures."

"Well, that's convenient. Seto was looking for a book on exactly that."

"Oh, Seto! I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" the girl exclaims, walking over to me and dropping the book on my lap. I tilt my head in confusion. "Ah, well, you wouldn't remember me," she explains as she scoops up the other books I'd taken and walks away to re-shelve them. "I erased your memory the first time we met. Terribly sorry about that, by the way. I was kind of new to sorcery. I still am." She scrunches her nose up. "I have to use a wiki to cast spells. It sucks."

"Ah, well, that's... unfortunate. I'm sure you will improve, though, with time."

"Hopefully," she laughs. "Anyways, I'm Hannah. Nice to re-meet you. If you want, you can take that book to your lab to study it. It'll be quieter there, I'm sure." Time mutters something about it being perfectly fine in the lounge before she arrived, but she ignores him.

"Hey, you don't have the authority to do that!" Pedro protests, crossing his arms.

"What, give away books? Come on, don't tell me you're not okay with it!"

He glares at her for a moment and then sighs as he uncrosses his arms. "Fine, whatever, just this once. Remember to bring it back, Seto!"

I thank them both and then teleport away.

When I sit down on my couch, I realize that the book is literally titled _Dimensional Pressures._ Well, if that isn't perfect, I don't know what is.

I skim the table of contents and then skip to page 145, where it explains new pressures appearing in specific dimensions for no apparent reason.

"_While pressures can, of course, come into existence when a being crosses from one dimension to another, this kind of pressure does not usually affect the new dimension badly._

"_However, when a being from a dimension is made an honorary member (see page 179) of a new dimension, a very damaging pressure can be inflicted upon the new dimension. This new pressure will most-likely affect seasoned sorcerers, sorceresses, and magic beings first, as they are more in tune with the world around them. If the new dimension still fails to deal with the added weight of the extra pressure, however, the pressure will be made obvious to all who inhabit the dimension, and it will, eventually, begin to tear the dimension apart."_

My eyes widen, and I quickly flip to page 179 for an explanation of what could have caused this.

"_When a being from a dimension proves themselves wholly loyal to one of another dimension, they are granted honorary membership to the other being's dimension. While this will allow the first being to be saved by both their home dimension's and the new dimension's Respawn Mechanism (assuming either dimension has one), it can also have terrible consequences._

"_If the honorary membership is not stabilized by a Ceremony of Acceptance (see page 40), a pressure will begin to build from the permanently added mass in the new dimension."_

Honorary member. Honorary member? I don't think I know anyone from another dimension who has proved him/herself _fully_ loyal to a person in our dimension. I mean, there were the Skys, but they came back later and tried to murder our Sky, so I don't suppose that really counts. And the Tys helped us out a little, but it's not like they did it out of loyalty, they just did it to get their Skys home safely.

The only person from another dimension who has really been _loyal_ to anyone in this dimension without any gain for him/herself is-

_Oh._


	7. Ch 5: We All Saw This One Coming

_I LOVE THE SECOND HALF OF THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH. LIKE, OH, MY GOSH!_

_I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it. :)_

**Chapter Five: We All Saw This One Coming (also known as "The Second Chapter in a Row to End with the Word 'Oh'")**

**Time: the start of Chapter Four**

**Place: the jump map**

**Sky's POV**

"Jason, you cheater!"

"What?" he asks innocently. "What makes you think I cheated?"

"Well, maybe the fact that you yelled 'I WIN!' at Seto's house and then managed to beat us here even though you never passed us," I suggest, glaring at him.

Jason giggles a little and then runs off to the first jump. "Watch out," Ty warns me, nudging my side with his elbow, "Jason can be evil. He killed me half a million times on this jump map while we were waiting for you."

"Oh, right! This is the 'Violence Is Always the Answer' jump map, isn't it?"

"Crap. It all makes sense now!"

I laugh at my friend's sorrow and then run past him in an attempt to catch up with Jason. It can't be too hard to beat him, can it?

* * *

I was wrong, I was so wrong. I've never been more wrong in my life.

"Ty, I feel like... we need... a game plan," I pant, sitting next to him in front of the first jump of the map.

"R-Right... Jason is... way over-powered... Not fair at all," Ty breathes, clutching his side.

I wait for my breathing to return to normal, and then I continue our conversation. "Jason must've played this map before. There's no _way_ he can be this good at it without playing it before."

"No, Sky, I'm telling you, this is the first time he's played it."

"What!? He's never been this skilled at parkour!"

"Or at fighting, for that matter."

"SUFFERRR!" Jason shrieks, and then an anvil falls on our heads.

Growling in annoyance, Ty and I respawn at the very beginning of the jump map. "Maybe this is why Jason never really gets angry in front of us – he takes out all his anger on jump maps centered solely around fricking violence," I say, watching Jason as he laughs on the other side of the map.

"That's actually kind of concerning," Ty replies, and I press my lips together and nod.

"A little bit."

"Jason! We give up," Ty sighs in defeat. Took us long enough.

"Yeah, all right, sorry," Jason says, teleporting to us and laughing loudly. "I just- sorry. I really didn't wanna put you guys through that, but I'm planning to troll Bashur and Bodil with this map, and I needed test subjects. I programmed traps everywhere, but the traps don't react to anything _I _do – they only react to what everyone else does. So, like, I'm gonna drag those two pranksters in here and teach them a lesson. 'S about time those two got their just desserts."

"You know, as cruel as that sort of is, I completely agree with you," I say, shrugging. "Those two have had it coming for ages now."

"I know, right? Anyways, sorry again for putting you guys through that."

"No proble-" Ty and I start, but then Ty's phone starts blaring.

"Uh, one second," he apologizes, sounding confused. "Hello? What's wrong?"

"Ty, I need you to bring Jason and Sky down to the Cliff. Now! Like, right now, go! Hang up the phone, Ty!" Seto's voice yells frantically through the phone.

Ty spews out a quick, "Don't worry, we'll be there soon!" and then ends the call and pushes Jason and me towards the exit. "I don't know what's going on, but we need to be a part of it," he says, and then we're all sprinting to the Cliff.

* * *

When we arrive, Seto is pacing back and forth by the edge while reading and re-reading what looks like the same few paragraphs of a book. "If the wind was blowing southeast at exactly seven miles per hour and he pushed off the edge with approximately this much force..," he mumbles as he sets the book down and reaches into his pocket to get a pen to write on his hand with.

"Seto, what's wrong?" Ty asks worriedly as we burst out of the trees.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"I- no. Yes! Kind of. Both," the tired sorcerer stammers. "I think- we need to jump."

"Jump- off the edge?" I ask, and if the memories weren't already flooding back, they certainly are now.

"That's- we'll just die, Seto," Ty argues, peering down over the edge. "And anyways," he says in a whisper, "you can't really ask Sky to jump off this particular ledge. That's just cruel."

"That's very kind of you, Ty, but I am perfectly fine," I say stubbornly, crossing my arms and glaring at him.

"Sky..," he sighs sadly.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not _fine_, exactly..."

"But you're about to be," Seto finishes for me, and I tilt my head because that is totally not what I was gonna say. "Please, just- trust me on this one. If we jump, you may end up happier than you've been in the last three weeks."

"Hmm. This sounds a little too much like a multi-suicide attempt," Jason comments, and we all glare at him. He puts his hands up defensively, and Ty rolls his eyes.

"Please," Seto begs.

I sigh. "Fine. I'm in. Guys?"

Jason and Ty nod, and then Ty asks Seto, "Why, exactly, are we jumping?"

"You'll see," Seto replies, grinning widely. "All right, now here's what we're gonna do. _We're not going to die._ We're going to get a running start and then jump as far out as possible – basically, our goal is to land in the water. After you land, let instincts take over. Don't think logically. Actually... just... do whatever Ty does."

"What? I don't know what I'm doing."

"Exactly. On three!"

"Wait, _on_ three, or _after_ three?" I ask for clarification purposes.

Rolling his eyes, Seto replies, "_On_ three." We nod and back up, getting ready for our running start. "One." Seto puts the book and his pen into a waterproof backpack, and then he walks back to join us in our places. "Two..." Ty and I share a glance in the universal "Race ya!" style. "Three!"

"CANNONBALL!" I shout as I go over the edge, but I don't land in the water – I just fall and fall and fall. "Let it be known that, even though our splashes will be really close together, I totally beat Ty just then."

"Shut up and pretend you're about to die!" Seto commands, and I raise an eyebrow right before we plunge into the water.

"Augh!" I splutter as the water fills my mouth and my head just barely misses a sharp rock jutting out of the ocean floor. I flail my arms and kick frantically as an undercurrent sweeps me deeper than I was before, deeper than I expected to go, but my fighting does nothing against the water.

"Ty!" I try to yell, because I'm scared and I don't like this and even though my Red Eyes are gone I'm still terrified of dying because what if the Respawn Machine fails and we all die? I just really need someone next to me right now... But Jason and Ty and Seto all jumped with me! What if _they_ die and the Respawn Machine has mysteriously turned off? What if one of us lives but gets stuck in a cave or something and then the others Respawn and don't know where he is? What if-

I spit out a mouthful of water as the current tosses me against the rough, rocky wall of a dark cave. Oh, oh, my gosh, it's happening! While I switch back and forth between hyperventilating and coughing my guts out, my thoughts go wild. Where are the others? What if they're hurt!? What if-

The cold water swishes around me, and I shiver and back up a tad to sit against the wall of the cave. I pull my knees up to my chest and try my best to take deep breaths as the water continues to move around me, but you know what? It's still not helping.

Then something echoes off the walls of the cave, which is larger than I first thought it was, and I panic more. My breaths get irregular again and I start shaking because I'm _afraid_ and I _hate_ being afraid and I wish I wasn't so _alone-_

"Ty," I whimper helplessly, and it echoes off the walls of the cave.

"Calm down, you idiot."

I shake my head frantically, still panicking. "B-But, b-but-"

"I said, 'calm down.' Geez."

Woah, deja vu.

_Oh._


	8. Ch 6: Nice Going, Seto

**Chapter Six: Nice Going, Seto**

**Time: about three seconds of slow realization later**

**Place: that random cave beneath the ocean**

**Sky's POV**

"E-Ty?" I sniffle in awe, looking up at him as he crouches down in front of me.

"Uh huh," he confirms, smiling slightly. "Nice to see you again."

"E-Ty!" I shout happily as I launch myself at him.

He makes a strangled sound of surprise and then pushes me off of him and back onto the floor, where I pout up at him. He just rolls his eyes at me and then pulls me back farther into the cave, where it isn't quite as wet. "Here, sit down. Are you okay?" he asks as he leads me to the center of the room.

"I-I'm fine," I stammer. "Perfectly fine. What about _you_? You jumped off that cliff _three weeks ago!"_

"Yeah, and every bit of these three weeks has sucked. I didn't actually wake up until what must have been about a week and a half in, and after that all I did was feel guilty about not getting rid of your Red Eyes and wonder why I hadn't died of starvation yet," he replies, sitting Indian-style in front of me.

"Wha- no, that- You _did_ get rid of my Red Eyes!" I exclaim, taking off my sunglasses and setting them down between us.

He tilts his head. "How did- Oh, they're the color of gold. That's fitting."

"'S budder," I mumble, not really caring but wanting to assure myself that it's okay to say it in front of him.

E-Ty smiles sadly and nods. "Yeah. It's the color of budder."

A smile twitches at my lips.

"Although, I don't get it!" he says, standing up and getting ready to pace. Oh, great, he's like Seto. "I didn't die, so the prophecy wasn't fulfilled, right? That means your eyes should still be red."

I take a moment to think it over. Earlier, we were under the impression that I had to 'relieve the world' of the Evil Dimension. But maybe E-Ty giving his life for me was enough to prove to the universe that he's a good guy? "I don't know," I say finally, biting my lip. "But how it happened doesn't matter. You're alive, and my Red Eyes are gone, and now that I've found you we can go back up to the city and either you can live with me or Ty or someone else in TC or we can make you your own house or-"

"Uh, Sky? Small problem, there."

"What?"

"I've been _trapped _here for three weeks."

"Uh-huh?"

"_Trapped."_

"Yeah."

"As in not able to get out."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Crap."

**Ty's POV**

"J-Jason? Seto?" I call out, standing up slowly and stumbling farther into the cave I'm in. My phone has passed on to the next world, apparently. Figures. After all, I just jumped into the ocean. I should've put all electronics in Seto's weird backpack.

"Guys?" I ask again, looking around in the dark.

"Ty?" a voice replies from the shadows.

"Jason! Hey, did Seto and Sky get pushed in here, too?" I ask, walking towards Jason and dripping water from my clothing all the way.

"Seto's here, but he's obsessing over the cave."

I frown. "What about Sky?"

"I don't know," he replies, shrugging.

"Hmph. I hope he's all right," I mutter as Jason leads me to another room.

"Me, too," he whispers.

"Jason, Ty! Search the sides of the cave, look for an opening or a branch out into another cave! Take these torches and explore if you find one. Make sure you only place torches on the right side of the cave! Otherwise you'll get lost. Ty, was Sky with you?" Seto asks.

"Uh, no, he wasn't," I respond, shaking my head. Seto frowns just like I did.

"Oh. Well, he must've fallen in a different cave. We'll find him. All right, let's go!"

"What exactly are we looking for?" Jason asks, and I feel like one of us should have asked that question just a little bit sooner.

"E-Ty!" Seto says as if it's entirely obvious. I raise an eyebrow.

"E-Ty is dead," I remind him.

"Ah ah ah, we _think_ he's dead. He might not be."

"So, what makes you think he isn't?" Jason asks.

"The pressure I keep feeling – I did some research on it, and it all points to E-Ty being alive as well as being the source of this pressure."

"So you want us to kill him when we find him?" Jason asks, frowning.

"I can't do that to Sky," I say, shaking my head. "If I find the other me, I'm gonna yell at him for faking his own death and then drag him back up to the surface so he and Sky can play a jump map together or something."

"Yeah, I don't actually mind if you do that when you find him," Seto answers reassuringly. "I don't want him dead – I want him alive. I need to perform the Ceremony of Acceptance on him to get rid of the pressure he's brought to this dimension."

"... I'm confused," Jason says finally.

"It doesn't matter, just find E-Ty and Sky," Seto commands, and we jokingly salute and then march off to examine the cave.

* * *

"Guys, I found something!" Jason shouts, and Seto and I go running in his direction. "There's a small drop here," he explains when we arrive, and then he points at the five block drop in front of us. "If we jump, we won't be getting back up the same way."

"Let's go for it," Seto suggests, shrugging recklessly, and then we all jump down the hole.

"Ack!"

"Who was that? Jason? Are you okay?" I ask worriedly when we land.

"Oh, my gosh, Seto hit his head on a rock!" he panics.

"No, no, calm down, Jason! He'll be fine. If he ends up respawning, at least he'll know where to find us. Otherwise, we'll just wait for him to wake up."

"Sky!" someone shouts.

"Where?" Jason asks me.

"Uh, I dunno!"

"Then why'd you shout his name?"

"I didn't!"

"No, that was totally your voi- E-Ty!"

My eyes widen, and Jason and I exchange a glance before running in the direction of his voice. "E-TY!" we yell.

"Hello?" he asks, but he seems a little preoccupied.

"We found you!" Jason exclaims as we burst into a larger cave. "Holy cow, what happened to Sky?"

"I don't know, the frickin' idiot just randomly passed out!" E-Ty huffs, trying to hide his worry. I know his tells – after all, I'm him. "Does he do this often? Can you guys help him?"

"Oh, my gosh, Seto just passed out a few seconds ago," Jason realizes. "They're doing the thing again!"

"Ugh, not the thing," I groan.

"What thing?" E-Ty asks, standing up and gently pulling Sky with him.

"The thing where they both pass out for a random amount of time."

"Ooh, that sucks," E-Ty agrees as he carries Sky over to us. "Where is Seto?"

"Over here," Jason replies, guiding him in the right direction. "We came to look for you."

"After three weeks?" E-Ty snorts.

Jason flinches, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, we thought you were dead. Also, we didn't really care."

"Wow, Jason," I praise him sarcastically, "way to be blunt."

"It's okay, I get it," E-Ty says, shrugging. "It really wouldn't make sense for you to honestly care too much about my death after what I did."

"Well, aren't you two just little rays of sunshine," I huff.

"We shine almost as bright as your never-ending sarcasm!" the other me quips almost instantly.

We glare at each other for a moment, but then we break the tension with tiny chuckles. "All right, admittedly, that was kind of funny," I say honestly.

"And, I have to say, that is some first-rate sarcasm that you've always got on hand."

"Thank you."

"You guys are weird," Jason says, scrunching up his nose.

"St-Stop, th-this isn't funny!" Sky mumbles in his sleep, and we glance over at him.

"Does he always do this when they randomly pass out?"

"I think so. I mean, he was mumbling the one other time we've seen them do it," I reply, shrugging. "Always something about a certain joke being really bad or not funny or whatever."

"That is one of the dumbest dreams I have ever heard of," E-Ty comments, and I shrug again because he's sort of right.

"No! Stop, please!" Sky cries.

"Okay, that is slightly less dumb!" E-Ty yells, jumping a little at Sky's cry. "Is he okay? What's wrong with him!?"

"I mean, I think sleeptalking is just a thing he does-" Jason begins.

"Not the sleeptalking part, you fool! The 'stop, please' part! He looks like he's in pain!"

I kneel down next to Sky, and Jason sits next to Seto. "I don't know, we've never seen this part before."

"If we can just wake Seto up..," Jason says, and then lightning cracks somewhere above our cave.

"Oh, it's storming _again_!?" E-Ty asks in exasperation.

"It was storming last time they passed out like this, too," I realize.

"Maybe when Seto passes out, he loses control of his magic," Jason guesses. "Maybe that's why it always storms, and why Sky only does his passing out thing when Seto does it."

"But then, why is Seto passing out?" E-Ty asks.

"Most of the time it's something about pressure, I think. It has to do with you – that's why we came looking for you in the first place," I explain.

"Oh. Can I do anything to help, then?"

Seto and Sky gasp in perfect sync and then slowly sit up, breathing heavily. "You were there this time," Sky whispers to E-Ty.

"Not you – he means your double," Seto corrects, sitting back against the wall.

"So, I was there?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"No, not you. But your double was there, too. I think? I think it was your double. It might have been you. I keep telling myself it's not you, it's not either of you," Sky says quietly, looking down.

"It's a vision," Seto mutters. "It has to be a vision."

"I don't want it to be a vision," Sky whimpers, and I really want to hug him, but I don't. E-Ty looks like he's sharing my exact feelings. He just does a slightly better job of covering it up.

"It won't be, Sky," I promise.

E-Ty nods resolutely. "We'll make sure of it."


	9. Ch 7: For Murdering, What Else?

_There are so many run-on sentences in this chapter. XD_

**Chapter Seven: For Murdering, What Else?**

**Time: about two minutes later**

**Place: that random cave beneath the ocean**

**Sky's POV**

"Stop it, I'm fine! Notch, leave me alone," I grumble at the two Tys as they attempt to help me sit up against the wall. "I can handle myself, all right? Geez."

They frown in sync.

"Woah, woah, now you're _both _frowning! That's not okay, usually only E-Ty frowns!" I panic, glancing between them both. "Which one of you is which!?"

"I'm Ty," they announce in unison as their frowns slowly slip into the positions of smiles.

"What!? Hold on, don't go playing games, E-Ty!"

"Fine, I'm E-Ty," they both admit, and then they glance at each other and giggle. Okay, wow, giggle. It's weird enough when Ty does it, but E-Ty, too? Dang.

"Come on, have you seriously forgotten your identities or are you just being jerks!?"

"We're just messing with you," the one on the left says gently, and I huff.

"The crap, that doesn't help at all! Which one are you?"

"Guess."

"Ugh. I don't know!"

"Nah, come on, guess!" the one on the right urges me on. I glare at them both in turn.

"Fine, uh... the one on the right is my Ty."

"Nope, the one on the left is your Ty," Seto informs me, and I tilt my head while Ty mutters something about not implying Skylox.

"How'd you know?" I ask curiously.

"His clothing is still dripping wet, like Jason's, mine, and yours. E-Ty, on the other hand, is mostly dry from staying in the cave."

"Well, then. Hello, Sherlock."

He rolls his eyes. "Right. Just try to be useful or something while Jason and I finish searching my backpack..."

"Hmm... I know how to be useful!" I bite my lip excitedly as I get an idea. Then I stand up carefully and take a few steps toward Ty.

"Uh. You gonna, like... So. Hi."

"Hi," I giggle, breathing on his face. He wrinkles his nose and tries to push me away, but I just laugh. Then I reach forward to play around with his hair, because maybe if I try really hard I can, like, quiff it or something without any gel...

"I don't think Ty feels very comfortable right now," E-Ty says, raising an eyebrow as he watches us.

"Shh, I'm fixing his hair so I can tell you two apart."

"Maybe it would be more efficient if I just took my headphones off and Ty left his on."

I drop the strands of Ty's hair that I was playing with and take a step back. "Oh. Right. Good idea."

Both Tys roll their eyes while E-Ty puts his headphones around his neck, and I smile sheepishly and then sit down next to Jason and Seto. "Have you gotten anywhere?" I ask politely as the Tys sit down on either side of me.

Seto groans. "Ugh, no! Not at all, this isn't going well."

"What's wrong?" I ask, frowning.

"I dropped some of the items necessary to the Ceremony when we jumped down here earlier, and now we've no idea where they are."

"What Ceremony?"

Everyone ignores me as Jason asks, "Can't you just zap us up to your house so we can replace the lost ingredients there?"

"Sadly? No," Seto sighs tiredly. "I haven't got enough power to use that much magic. I could maybe transport myself, but there's a chance it would go terribly wrong, and, aside from that, I might have a bit of trouble getting back to you guys since I wouldn't be able to zap back."

"Hmph. Well, we'll just have to swim up, then, right?" I ask, glancing around at everyone.

"Sky, we went _over_ this," E-Ty grumbles, throwing his head back in exasperation. "Trapped. _Trapped_."

"Ohhh, right. Well. Hmm."

"Seto, did you bring a phone or communication device of any kind?" E-Ty asks, pointedly ignoring me again.

"I brought my phone- crap. No, I didn't. Well, I did, but it must have fallen out with the rest of the ingredients."

"Notch dang it," Jason whispers, looking to the side. "What are we going to do?"

"Did you tell anyone where we were going?" Ty asks.

Seto winces. "No, I didn't exactl-"

"Seto!" I shout, lurching forward and resting in a crawling position. "S-Seto, what's going on!?" It seems like it's taking so much energy just to keep myself off the ground... I collapse.

"Sky!" The voices of Jason and Ty scream out, and I groan tiredly. Why am I suddenly so tired? Too tired, too tired to open my eyes... Too tired to respond to E-Ty... Too tired to nod my head... Stop talking, guys, let me sleep...

"Seto, what is- Seto!" Ty exclaims, and then I'm being moved and I think my head might be in E-Ty's lap, maybe? But I can't really tell, and Seto isn't answering Ty, is Seto all right? Jason's been quite silent, too, is he oka-

"They're doing it again..," the astronaut's quiet voice realizes.

"Seto, Sky, wake up! Stop passing out, this isn't cool!" someone yells, and I can no longer distinguish between voices. So tired. So, so tired...

My eyes flash open, and I jump back. I'm in a black room – it's not empty. My friends are here. Oh, good. They're all holding emerald swords, too-

Oh.

Oh, not this again.

They stand stock-still with cold eyes and blank expressions, and I wait patiently. Maybe they'll go away if I don't acknowledge them? Usually I speak to them, and then they threaten me a bit, and then Evil-Sky steps out from behind them and I panic and they slowly progress towards me and they raise their swords and the blade is normally only an inch or two away from making contact when I finally wake up.

"Hello, Sky," says E-Ty, and, oh, joy of all joys, the dream changes to fit real life. E-Ty's headphones are resting around his neck instead of on his head.

"H-Hi," I stutter, and they grin creepily and so I close my eyes and look upwards. _Dear Notch – er, Jeb, I suppose, could you maybe save me? Please? Please, please, pretty please with a rainbow sheep on top? _I take a deep breath and open my eyes-

There's something above me.

What is that? The ceiling is still black, but – it just seems so far away, like the room is far taller than I first thought. And there seems to be a tiny person up there, or possibly just a regularly-sized person positioned very high up. Are they on a platform of barrier blocks or something? Who would even be up there-

_Seto._

"Seto!" I shriek, jumping up and down and waving my arms in the person's direction. The Seto in front of me gives me his best 'you're-an-idiot-I'm-right-in-front-of-you' expression, but I ignore him. "SETO!"

"Sky-" he begins, but then he falls somehow and then he's just falling and falling and oh there goes Ty, Seto has managed to fall on top of him. "Woah."

"Woah!" I repeat. "Cool!"

"Right. So, uh, now we're both down here."

"Use your magic on them!"

"Can't. Out of juice, as you like to say."

"Oh, right. Dang. In that case, grab Ty's sword."

"What for?"

"Murdering, what else?"


	10. Ch 8: Pick an Ice Cream Flavor, Sky!

_Thank you very much, KittyBrine, for the truly lovely idea. :3_

**Chapter Eight: Pick an Ice Cream Flavor, Sky!**

**Time: two seconds later**

**Place: Sky/Seto's dream/vision thingy**

**Sky's POV**

"AGH!"

I rip my sword out of the Ty's chest – it only took him a few moments to jump to his feet and attack me after Seto landed on him – and he crumples to the ground in a heap of blood and anguished cries.

Seto stabs his sword forward, managing to slash a large gash on the Mitch's side, and I run to help my sorcerer friend as a Jason creeps up behind him. But then the other Ty copy is pouncing on me from behind and I'm sprawling on the ground and holding my arm at a weird angle as I try to lodge the sword somewhere in his body.

He lets out a strangled yell as my sword grazes over his left arm, and I use his obvious surprise at being hit to flip him off of me and push my sword sloppily towards his torso. He makes another strange noise, so I consider the job done and jump up to help Seto.

"Sky, this doesn't feel right!" Seto panics from across the black room, and I tilt my head in confusion while jabbing an Ian in the stomach with the hilt of my sword.

"What doesn't feel right?" I call, ducking down to avoid an attack from the Jerome.

"Everything! We shouldn't be hurting them!" He shoves a Quentin away and kicks the feet out from beneath the Jason.

"Why not? They're trying to kill us!"

"It just- Sky, something is _wrong_!"

"It's a dream, why does it even matter?"

"I don't know, Sky, and that's the scary part! It matters- _it just does."_

Before I can slam my sword into the Ian, my vision blurs.

* * *

"_You're hurt worse than I am, b-but they won't be able to tell, especially once we're unconscious. Blood everywhere. H-He'll try to help _me _first, though – and you won't live if that happens."_

"_S-So what- do you suggest- w-we do?"_

* * *

"W-Wha- Seto? What happened? Where are we- o-oh," I calm down slightly as I glance around the cave that has, strangely, become somewhat familiar.

Jason darts into the bit of the cave we're in, panicking and rambling rather loudly. "I couldn't find any sort of leaf or, like, bandage or anything and Minecraft physics won't let me use my clothing and Seto didn't bring any bandages or healing potions with him and you guys are- Sky! Wait, Seto! Seto, you have to help them, they're in _pain, _they're not supposed to be in pain! I don't even know how they got hurt, they just _did, _and so I left to go look for stuff but I couldn't find any and _Seto_, they're not _okay,_ why is the Respawn Machine letting them feel pain!?"

"Feel pain-" Seto and I exchange terrified glances, and then I'm finally spotting the two bloody Tys on the floor and Seto is pouncing on his backpack and rifling through it for who-freaking-knows what.

"Ty! _Ty_! Come on, wake up, you guys can't just _pass out_ on us!"

"Jason, it is important that you answer me _quickly _and _correctly._ During the time that Sky and I were asleep, did you feel like your knees were suddenly kicked in so that you fell to the ground?" Seto asks sort of calmly while I hyperventilate over my dying friends.

"I- well, yes. It didn't really make sense, 'cause nothing had hit me or anything, but- does it matter, Seto? Those two are _dying_!"

Seto nods sharply, probably cataloging the information, and then dives back into his backpack. "Here, here, it's in this secret pocket... Meant to be extra protection against the water... should've put more than just a few lousy potions in here..."

"Potions? You have potions? What kind?" I ask, spinning away from the Tys and crawling towards Seto.

"One healing potion, one night vision potion, one leaping potion." He looks at me. "Sky, we cant effectively split the healing potion between the two of them."

"What? No, of course we can! We have to!"

"Sky..."

"Seto, no! How are we going to _choose?_ We can't just _choose_ between two of our friends! That shouldn't even be our choice to make!"

"Sky, you _have_ to. Go pick one."

"You say it so casually, like it's a freaking flavor of ice cream or something! It's _not_, Seto! These are my _friends!"_

"I know," Seto growls, "they're mine, too." Oh, uh, right. "Pick one anyways or neither one of them will survive this."

My mouth goes dry. "You really think one of them won't make it through?"

Seto cringes. "Please, Sky, just give one of them the potion."

I take a deep breath as Seto hands me the Potion of Healing, and then I hover over my two friends and wonder how Seto and Jason can possibly trust me to do this. What if I do it _wrong!? _Is it even possible to do this wrong? Augh, Jason should have done this.

"Sky," Seto says anxiously, and is he _rushing_ me? He has _no right_ to rush me. Not after what he's asked me to do.

In the end, though, can I really choose anyone but Ty? E-Ty means so much to me, but Ty... Ty means even more. I've known him for ages, and I- I can't just _let him die._

I swallow hard, pry Ty's mouth open, and dump the liquid down his throat. The large stab wound straight through his chest slowly closes up, and I have to look away to avoid barfing all over the Tys.

Once the terrible noise of flesh repairing itself has stopped, I turn back to Ty, ready to see him sitting up and freaking out over E-TY, whose headphones (which are still around his neck) are covered in blood from a huge cut in his left arm.

_He doesn't sit up._

"Oh my Notch," I cry, putting my head in my hands. With a muffled voice, I choke out, "Seto, why isn't he waking up?"

"I- I don't know," he admits, shrugging.

"What are we going to do?"

"We... We're going to get him back up to the surface. Well, you are. Take the Potion of Leaping, carry Ty, and jump through the opening on that side of the cave. The power from the potion should send you flying _through_ the water, so you won't have to fight an already-lost battle against the current. If you run around the left of the cliff, then, can you make your way back to the city?"

"Yes, it's right past the ice rink and the pond," I reply, already standing up, grabbing the new potion from Seto, and gently picking up Ty. "Wait- what about E-Ty?"

Seto looks down. "Sky, we can't... You can't carry them both. Look, Jason and I will search around for a dungeon or something that might have something we could use to help him, but, really, we're depending on you."

"Why would _anyone_ ever depend on _me!?"_ I'm quite possibly the most irresponsible person here!

"You're going to blame yourself if Ty dies," Seto points out, and, wow, thanks. But then he continues with, "And because of that, you're going to try harder than either of us ever could to make sure he _doesn't_ die." Well.

"Fine. Where do I go once I'm up there, though?"

"Into the city, like I said- actually, no. Go into my house, enter the lab, find another health potion or two. Then call the rest of Team Crafted, have them meet you there. There's another waterproof backpack somewhere in the lab, pack it full of healing potions and leaping potions and then jump back down here to us. Get it?"

"Got it," I whisper, willing my voice not to shake as I drink the potion.

"Good."


	11. Ch 9: The Nope Nope Nope Chapter

**Chapter NEIN: The Nope Nope Nope Chapter**

**Time: ten minutes later**

**Place: Seto's House**

**Sky's POV**

"Ty, Ty, Ty," I mutter frantically, dumping potion after potion on him while the rest of the Team bursts through the front door.

"Sky, where are you?" Ian yells.

"In the lab!" I call back, and, honestly, where else would I be?

"What happened, what's going on? How'd he get hurt? Why isn't the Respawn Machine working?" they shout all at once, and I mentally fight to disentangle all the overlapped words.

"I don't know, I- the vision, Seto and I fought everyone, and we hit the Tys, and when we woke up they were unconscious-"

"The Tys?"

"Unimportant! Get me some more potions, now!"

They immediately split up to search the lab for things to help me out, and I take Ty's pulse one more time before reaching for the nearest remaining potion and dumping it over his head. Why isn't he waking up? He should be waking up by now, it shouldn't take this many potions. What's going on?

"Sky!" Jerome yells, and I'm just now noticing that he didn't actually enter the lab with everyone else.

"What?" I call back, focusing more on Ty.

"Sky, Mitch is- I don't _know_ what Mitch is, he needs help, Sky! He's got this huge gash down his side, and I just- it just appeared, out of no where! We were just lounging around, and then- _poof!_ But he won't heal, Sky, his food bar is full but _he still won't heal!_"

"Where is he?" I ask, diverting my attention from Ty for a few short moments.

"Here," Jerome replies, helping a half-conscious Mitch down the stairs. "It's really bad, Sky. Where's Seto?"

"In a cave beneath the ocean."

"What!?"

"It's complicated. Lay Mitch down next to the cauldrons there and then go look for more potions with the others."

"Okay," Jerome says, but he doesn't move – he clearly just doesn't feel right leaving his friend's side.

I scoot Ty closer to Mitch so I can work on them both simultaneously. "Don't worry, Jerome, I've got him."

He nods gratefully before running off, and then Quentin and Ian plant themselves in front of me and start going on about potions and Notch apples and good _Notch_, guys, just give them to me! These two are _dying!_

"Good, give them to me. Wait, pack half of them into one of Seto's waterproof backpacks. No, I don't care, just do it!" I barely give them time to speak before I answer. "Go!"

I dump another Healing potion on Ty, force another regen down his throat, shower Mitch in strength and then wish I were a sorcerer so I could just heal them like Seto. Then, speak of the devil, a small purple window appears in front of me, and I growl. "Not _now_, Seto, I need to focus!"

"I know you do, Sky, but _E-Ty_ is _close to death._ I can't keep this window open very long – I can barely cast the spell – but I can keep it open long enough to help you. What's happening?" Seto asks, and I envy his ability to stay calm throughout all of this.

"Mitch was hurt, too, so both Ty and Mitch are in your lab now – but, Seto, they're- the potions! They aren't helping, _nothing's_ helping."

"It's all right, calm down. There are four cauldrons behind you, one of them has purplish water instead of blue and if you drench the two in that water, it should help. If it doesn't, I don't know what else to tell you." E-Ty makes a noise, and Seto's eyes widen as he glances down at him. "Oh, Notch, Sky- be quick. He doesn't have much time."

"I'm trying, I'm trying," I hiss, standing up with Ty and then gently lowering him into the purple-water cauldron. "Please work, please work," I whisper, pulling him back out to lay on the previously pristine floor of the lab.

He shudders. The blood around him begins to fade.

"Please tell me the blood is the only thing fading," I beg the air.

Ty coughs.

"Ty! Ty, yes, Ty! Are you all right? Do you feel okay now? Are all your wounds closed?" I spit out, question after question.

"Mitch," Jerome breathes, pulling Mitch out of the cauldron. Oh. Guess he took care of that, then.

"Oh, Notch- Sky! Sky, we're losing him! His pulse is fading, you need to get down here!" Jason panics from the magic window, and I snap my head up. Crap.

"Ty, can you stand?" I ask quickly.

"There's a reason I have two legs," he replies with a sassy tone, and I sigh in relief. "Where's the other Ty?"

"Is that-" Seto freezes, his eyes widen, he swallows hard. "They tricked us," he says quietly.

"Who? What? Where?" I ask, pulling Ty to his feet and filling a couple of empty bottles with the purple water.

"I- Sky, please, come _quickly,"_ he pleads. Jason's breathing gets faster, heavier, more afraid-sounding.

"I am!" I snap, huffing as I shove the bottles into a waterproof bag with a few potions and Notch apples that the rest of the crew found. "Ty is alive, okay? Step one, down. I need _time_, Seto."

"You don't _have_ time. We've mixed up the steps." He takes a deep breath. "And, dear Notch, no, he isn't," he says, looking down at E-Ty.

"What?"

"_Be quick."_ The magic window closes. Nope nope nope, why!? I need Seto to help me, I can't- It's all right, we're going back down there now. I'll be fine. We'll be fine. E-Ty will be fine. Everything will be fine.

"We're going back down," I tell Ty as I sling the pack over my shoulder and run up the steps and out of the lab.

"Right, good. We have to be fast, Ty won't make it much longer."

"Nope, don't talk like that. He'll make it, of course, he will. He can't _not_ make it. He_ has_ to live. Can't die. I just recently got him back, he can't leave so soon. Nope, nope nope nope."

Ty looks confused for a moment, but then he gets the "oh I remember" expression and I roll my eyes because what the crap was even confusing about those last few seconds? Is it so bad to want your friend to live?

I can hear the footsteps of the others behind me, some slower, some faster, none of them capable of matching my pace. I will not slow down. Not until I'm sitting next to a healthy, living, breathing E-Ty.

I will not slow down.

_I can't._


	12. Ch 10: It's All in the Headphones

**Chapter Ten: It's All in the Headphones**

**Time: a couple minutes later**

**Place: the air by the cliff**

**Sky's POV**

"JUST TRUST ME!"

I hit the water with an insane splash, and then I'm letting the current pull me towards the cave while the rest of Team Crafted tries to gather up the nerve to jump off of a cliff. I almost knock my head on a rock, but before that can happen, I dodge around it and boost myself forward. Seto's bag is held tightly against my side.

"S-Seto!" I cough out as the water washes me into the cave. "Jason! Guys, I-I'm here!" I glance around, already lifting the bag over my head so I can dig around for the potions.

Wait.

Hold on, wait a minute-

This isn't the right cave.

No, no, no, what now!? What do I do!? I have no idea how to get to the other cave, it was really just random luck that we all found each other the first time, I-

"Woah, don't go hyperventilating a _second_ time, idiot," Ty says, rolling his eyes as he stands up and wrings out the bottom of his shirt. "Once a day is enough."

"I'm not hyperventilating," I huff, forcing a calm expression onto my face as I walk a few more steps forward into the cave. "I'm fine. I just- We're in the wrong cave, is all."

"That's all right, we'll figure this out." He walks past me and peeks around the corner, taking our surroundings into account. "Hey, look, there are torches over here. Someone must have been here recently- oh, this must have been where the others landed the first time we came down here."

"Right, you're right! So we can just follow their path, then. Wait, weren't you with them?"

He nods, looking down at the ground behind me as he speaks. That water, though. "Yeah, but only once we'd met up in the cave you and E-Ty were in. Until then, we'd been separated."

"Oh, okay. So I guess you wouldn't know which branch of the cave to go down, then?"

"Sorry, no. But don't worry, Sky, we'll get there in time," he insists.

I cringe. "And what if we don't?"

He glares at me. "We will. Come on, let's head this way... Uh. There's a hole in the ground over here."

"How big is it?" I ask, running to catch up with him.

"Not very, but it does go down pretty far," he replies. I peer down into the hole with him.

"Seto, Seto, do something!" Jason's panicked voice pleads, and my eyes widen. "This is my best friend we're dealing with!" Ty winces.

"That's them, come on!" I say excitedly, jumping down into the hole without a second thought. "Jason, Seto, we're here!"

"Sky! Dear Notch, _run!_" Seto shouts, and Jason skids around the corner to meet me and Ty.

"Sky, it's Ty, it was Ty all along, and he's _so close_ to leaving us, Sky, fix it! Please, fix it!" he rambles as Ty and I run into the part of the cave that E-Ty and Seto are in.

"What? Shh, just calm down. We're here now, we can save him," I respond almost-calmly. Jason looks frustrated, but he stays silent in favor of dragging me around the corner.

"Sky, you don't understand-" Ty begins, sounding guilty.

We turn the corner to be faced by a fear-stricken Seto.

"It's too late."

I freeze in place, and Ty skids to a halt next to me.

"No, you- you don't mean that. T-There's no way-" Jason says, grasping for some kind of hold.

"I can't feel his pulse," Seto replies weakly, pointlessly moving his fingers around E-Ty's neck.

"No," Jason whispers, horror showing on his face.

I can't stop staring at E-Ty. His headphones are bloodied and still damp around his neck, his hair is still sopping wet – he's lying in a pool of ocean water and his own blood. Why... How did his health go down so quickly? I mean, we knew he was hurt, but... not _this_ hurt.

"Notch," Seto breathes, shaking his head. Jason squeezes his eyes shut tightly.

"S-Sky? Are you okay?" Ty asks hesitantly.

_Okay?_ How could I possibly be _okay? _E-Ty was... We had gotten really close in the short time that we'd been friends. I destroyed his entire dimension, I killed everyone he loved, and yet... he saved my life. More than once, by the way. He was sarcastic and rude and technically evil, but he was loyal, too, and he was my friend. And... he's gone now. I already lost him once, but to get him back and then have him brutally ripped right out of my life again...

How could I possibly be okay?

"Sky, please, just say something," Ty begs.

I swallow. "Well... A-At least move him. We can't leave him like that. Let's..." I blink a few times. "Let's clean him up a bit, and then... then we'll bring him up to the surface for a proper burial. He deserves it after risking his life to cure me of my Red Eyes and then dying all over again at our hands."

Ty flinches guiltily.

"You," Jason says quietly, looking up at Ty. "You! How _could_ you!?" He's seething with rage.

"Woah, Jason, calm down! It's not Ty's fault," I defend him, standing in front of Ty. "I was the one who made the choice, it isn't his fault."

"No, Sky, it's- he tricked you! He tricked us all!"

"I'm sorry," Ty whispers. I furrow my eyebrows.

"What? No, you didn't trick us, it's fine, Ty. What are you on about, Jason?"

"He lied to you, Sky!"

"I'm so sorry," Ty repeats, blinking rapidly, and I frown.

"I still don't get it. For what?"

"That horrible, _selfish_ monster switched the headphones!"

"I'm so sorry, Sky!"

"What!?"

"Stop it!" Seto's voice brings all our thoughts to a halt, and we slowly turn to look at him. "Stop, this isn't helping anything. What's done is done, and..." He takes a deep breath. "We can't reverse it."

"I still don't even know what happened! Please, can someone explain?" I beg them all, glancing at each of them in turn.

"I'm- Notch, Sky, I'm so sorry. I... know how much it hurts. To lose your best friend." Ty swallows hard and looks down at his feet. "I'm sorry, Sky."

The realization hits hard, but the pain, fear, and disbelief hit harder. "You're kidding."

"Why would I joke about something like this?"

I let out a sob and drop down next to my best friend's body.

It's not E-Ty that I've lost. Not a double of Ty that I just happened to get close to.

No, no, it's not that. I've lost _more _than that. I've lost the first, the original, the best Ty alive.

My Ty.

* * *

_Whelp. XD_


	13. Ch 11: The Grief Chapter

_I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON TO HAVE USED AN ENTIRE 1700 WORDS TRYING TO GET SKY'S PAIN ACROSS TO YOU GUYS D:_

_SEE, THIS IS WHY I HAVE A VERY SMALL SOCIAL LIFE_

_PEOPLE GET INTO A CONVERSATION WITH ME AND I SAY "YEAH, IM A WRITER" AND THEN I SHOW THEM ONE OF MY CHAPTERS AND THEY NEVER WANNA TALK TO ME AGAIN XD_

**Chapter Eleven: The Grief Chapter**

**Time: ten horrible seconds of anguish later**

**Place: the cave in the ocean by the cliff**

**Sky's POV**

I love crying.

It's actually really healthy, you know. It releases a whole bunch of crap that you'd never want in your body. Plus, it relieves stress and lowers blood pressure and does all this other great stuff. Really, crying is underrated. Crying makes you feel better. Crying is a wonderful thing.

On the other hand, your problem is still there. It's not like it just magically goes away as soon as you've cried yourself a river. The problem stays – the ex that you still love stays with someone else, the favorite character you were rooting for stays on the wrong team. The best friend you've known for almost your entire life _stays dead._

I hate crying.

"Jason, you can't bring him back. Nothing Sky brought down here will do him any good," Seto sighs as Jason rummages through the backpack I brought.

"That isn't helping," E-Ty hisses to him before turning back to me. He's got his hands on my shoulders but I'm still shaking with sobs that I'm barely holding in, and we're both on our knees but I feel like I'm about to fall anyways, and he's looking straight into my eyes in a way that I'm sure he thinks is comforting but really I can't even see him all that well, all I can see are my thoughts, growing and taking shape just as though my eyelids were closed and I were smack dab in the middle of a terrible dream.

With a shuddering breath and a shaking hand, I reach forward and push his headphones off his head and down to his neck, where they should be. Where they should have been.

No, I don't wish E-Ty were dead. But, yeah, I would have chosen differently had I known the truth.

E-Ty winces at the feeling of his headphones hitting his collarbone. "Sky, I'm sorry," he whispers for what must be the millionth time.

"Sorry," Jason laughs hysterically. "Sorry! He's sorry."

"Calm down," Seto says with a warning in his voice.

"I'm sorry," E-Ty repeats, and I blink, refocusing so that I can actually see the world around me rather than reliving the sight of Ty, _dead _on the ground and bathing in a pool of his own blood. E-Ty turned me away from that only a few moments after the realization hit that it was Ty, but the image is still burned into my mind. "I'm sorry, Sky. I didn't think he'd die – we wouldn't have done the switch if we'd thought he was going to die. I'm sorry, Sky, I'm sorry. We didn't realize he'd been hit in more places than one, didn't realize it was already so bad – we just, I- Ty thought that I was far more injured than he was – there was so much blood – but he also thought that he was injured enough that you would have to choose which one of us to save, and he knew you would choose him. So we switched, because he thought he could survive a bit longer, but he didn't think _I_ could. And... I'm sorry, Sky, Notch, I'm sorry. I never wanted you to have to go through anything like this."

"So... so Ty _wanted_ you to switch with him? It was _his_ plan?" Jason asks, pausing in his search through the backpack.

E-Ty scowls at him. "Of _course _it was. I'm bad, yes, but you'd have to be downright _heartless_ to knowingly risk putting someone like Sky through this kind of pain. I wouldn't have even considered getting Ty to switch with me had he not suggested it in the first place – no one could ever be that selfish." He looks back at me, and his expression falls into something more neutral. "I'm so, so sorry, Sky."

He leans forward and puts his arms around me, but I stay as I am, sitting stiffly and blinking occasionally to stop my eyes from burning. Did you know that not blinking tends to cause pain after extended periods of time? Yeah, I figured you did.

"Sky, please say something," he whispers, hugging me more tightly. He smells like Ty, which is odd since he and Ty are incredibly different and E-Ty has been pouting in a cave for three weeks. "Anything at all, Sky. _Please."_

His voice is rough. Is he crying? Hmm. I hate crying. Crying doesn't help. Well, it does, but not really. It doesn't offer the kind of help that any of us need right now.

E-Ty is the same height as Ty, too. He's shorter than me. They both are. I mean, duh. Since they're the same height. They're both shorter than me. 'Cause I'm taller than both of them. And they're the same height.

I have to take a moment to collect my thoughts.

What did E-Ty want again? Something about being tall? No, I think he said 'anything at all.' What? Give him anything at all? I have my budder amulet, but I don't give that to people. I gave it to Ty once. His eyes widened and he gave it back because he didn't want to be responsible for something so important to me. I just laughed and told him that he was way more important to me than the budder amulet and that he was responsible for himself 24/7, and he was silent for a bit before I suggested we head to the city so we could get lunch. What time was it? I think it was exactly 1:46 – I remember because Ty asked why we were eating lunch and I told him "because it's lunch time!" and then I glanced down at my watch to confirm it and it turned out to be far past 'lunch time.' I think we ended up skipping lunch and just eating a whole box of Disney princess fruit snacks instead.

Maybe Ty and I should do that again. We can have Disney princess fruit snacks again. Maybe we can switch to some other kind of fruit snacks instead to make it more interesting. We could make our own fruit snacks! Wouldn't that be fun?

I open my mouth to ask what kind of fruit snacks Ty would like to create, but then I focus in on the headphones around his neck and that's not Ty, that's E-Ty. Why is E-Ty in front of me instead of Ty? E-Ty is great and all, but I don't wanna brainstorm fruit snack ideas with E-Ty, I wanna do it with Ty.

Oh. I clamp my mouth shut again.

Why is Ty dead? Why did he have to die? He didn't do anything wrong, Ty was awesome! And he was the perfect best friend. Why did he have to die?

Why didn't the Respawn Machine work on him? It should have worked! It _al_ways works, why didn't it work this time!? That isn't fair to Ty, not fair! What kind of Respawn Machine doesn't even know how to freaking _respawn_ people!? That's dumb, the whole concept is dumb!

Know what's dumber? A dream where copies of your friends traumatize you. Know what's dumbest? A dream where the copies aren't even copies and when you try to defend yourself you end up fatally wounding your friends and what is my _problem_ I _hurt_ him I _killed_ him it's _my fault!_

I'm such an idiot! I should've known this would happen, should've known something would go wrong if I fought back in the dream! I should have let the evil versions of my friends traumatize me one more time, I should've let them hurt me 'till I blacked out again and then woke up in the real world, I should've sucked it up and done what I'd always done up until then. Why didn't I?

I should have. Oh, I should have. Please, Notch, _let me go back_, let me try again! I won't fight back, I won't, I'll just take all their crap because Ty is worth it and I was stupid to try to fight back when that clearly isn't what's supposed to happen when I enter that dream. I won't call Seto down and I won't make anyone drop their swords and I won't pick up the swords if they do and I'll make sure that _Ty doesn't die,_ please!

Send me back three weeks to the time when E-Ty jumped off the cliff, please! I'll jump with him, I'll keep him from jumping, I'll go looking for him afterwards, anything to make sure he never ends up lying unconscious next to Ty and making me choose which one of them to save.

Send me back a couple of days, Notch, let me pressure Ty into getting his hair dyed or something, please! Please, send me back, I can do it! I can change it so that he and E-Ty won't be able to switch and then _Ty won't die, _please!

Send me back _one day,_ and I promise I won't change anything big. I won't try to fix fate or stop Ty from dying or anything, please – I just wanna skip lunch and eat fruit snacks with him. That's all. Disney princess fruit snacks. It won't take long. Please. Please, I'll do _anything_. I just want to make one more memory with him.

Ah, but it doesn't work that way, does it? If I want another memory with Ty, it'll have to be with his dead body. Ty is dead. I can't change that – no one can. Ty is dead. He didn't get better, he never will. I wasn't able to heal him, to save him. He's gone.

"Sky?" asks Ty's voice.

I hate crying.

"Hey, go ahead, Sky, don't bottle it up." Jason's familiar voice draws me farther out of my thoughts, and I squeeze my eyes shut tightly and hug E-Ty back. "It's okay to cry."

"D-Don't be a hypocrite," I sniffle, forcing a laugh, and Jason lets out a strained chuckle of his own.

"My bad," he replies shakily and then he's wrapping his arms around me and E-Ty and letting out a few tears of his own and then the pressure of Seto's arms are around us, too, and it's just one big group hug that's only missing one person.

But what can be done?

* * *

_What do you call a pig that does karate?  
A pork chop. _

_Are you guys smiling yet? :D_


	14. Ch 12: Use Your Brain

**Chapter Twelve: Use Your Brain, Mr. Unintentionally Smart Sarcasm**

**Time: two and a half sobs later**

**Place: that same cave duh**

**Sky's POV**

The sound of glass shattering breaks us apart, and I sniff and drag my arm across my eyes in an attempt to dry them. "W-What was that?" I ask.

"Sorry," Jason laughs through his tears, "I dropped a potion when we hugged."

"Great, just what we needed," I say sarcastically, and he laughs again, this time much more easily.

"Actually, Sky," says a mystified-sounding Seto, "I think your statement is entirely correct."

"What?" E-Ty asks, standing up and helping me to my feet.

"Look at Ty."

I glance at the pile of blood. "He's gone. Dead. I-I thought we went over this. That's what the whole hug thing was about, remember?"

"Use your brain, Sky."

"... Sorry, I'm confused." I blink a few times to clear the remaining tears from my eyes. Hafta focus.

"The body, Sky," Seto sighs in exasperation, and I frown.

"Um... what? There _is_ no body."

"_Exactly."_

My eyes go wide and the breath is yanked out of my lungs and I swear my heart just stopped for a few seconds. "He respawned."

E-Ty gasps, Seto nods proudly, and Jason passes out.

"I- I don't get it," E-Ty mumbles while I continue to stare at the blood and lack of body.

"The potion that Jason dropped was just a vial of that purple 'water' from the cauldrons back at my lab. It healed Mitch and E-Ty, and now it's done the best that it can with Ty – it has allowed him to respawn."

"Sky? Ty? Where the Nether _are_ you guys!?" Mitch and Jerome drop through the hole in the ceiling. "Oof."

"Merome!" I shout, jumping out of my trance. "Ty is alive!"

They frown. "We sort of got that," Jerome says.

"No, no, you don't get it! He was dead, Ty was _dead_, guys! This is E-Ty! But then Jason fixed it on accident and now Ty has respawned so we're going back up to the surface to find him."

"Um... how?" asks Ian, dropping expertly down into our cavern.

"With the Potions of Leaping that I brought tons of," I explain, and then I'm bouncing around the cave and handing out potions and yelling "GOGOGO, LET'S GO, SLOWPOKES!" and people are complaining and telling me to calm down. "I can't calm down!" I exclaim. "Ty is _alive_!"

"So, wait, he actually _died_?" Quentin asks with wide eyes.

"Yes. But he's fine now! Come _on_, let's _go_, stop _taking _so long!"

"Hold on, we just got here-" Jerome starts.

E-Ty snorts. "Your point? Drink the Notchdang potion already, idiot!"

I chug my own potion just as E-Ty downs one, and then I grab Jason's hand and E-Ty slings the backpack over his shoulder and we run to the mouth of the cave and jump up, through the water and into the air and over the cliff and then we touch down on the ragged dirt right before jumping all the way to Ty's house.

"Ty, Ty, Ty!" I screech, breaking his front door and then running through the hole in the wall.

"Oh my dear Notch, it was a _wooden door!_ Why didn't you just open it!?" Ty asks incredulously, and I squeal and hug him more tightly than I've ever hugged anyone else. Or any_thing_ else. Not even budder gets this much of my attention.

"Ty, y-you were dead," I say, glaring at him, and he winces.

"So, uh, so it worked, then?"

E-Ty nods, flinching back as well, and I stomp my foot and glare at _both_ of them. "Don't go thinking that everything is okay just because it all worked out in the end, you morons. I will _never_ forget this. Ever," I hiss, shoving Ty backwards. He bites his lip. "Never ever. From now on, you two are exactly who you say you are – always, got it? And, E-Ty, I'm dyeing your hair black."

"Fair enough," he replies, shrugging.

"It certainly is. That... We aren't doing that, that _thing_ in the cave ever again."

"Sky, I'm sorry," Ty says quietly, stepping closer to me. "I didn't mean to hurt you, we just- we didn't realize I was so badly injured, and E-Ty means a lot to you-"

"Are you kidding, idiot!? _You _mean a lot to me! I would give up _budder_ for you – you are my _best friend." _I sniff, angry at myself when I realize I've started crying again. "I thought you were gone forever."

"Sky," he whispers sadly, and then he's pulling me in for another hug and I'm practically sobbing into his shoulder while repeating the words "I hate crying" over and over.

"Don't worry," Ty promises, "I'm not going anywhere."

I force out a laugh. "You'd better not. I'm not dealing with your crap again."

He pushes me back playfully and smiles. "Hmph. Hey, why is Jason unconscious?"

"Eh, he couldn't handle it. _He's_ not dealing with your crap again, either."

"You are ridiculous," he laughs.

"Not ridiculous enough to convince my best friend I'm dead, though."

"... You did that just recently at-"

"Shhh, shh. No. Shh."


	15. Ch 13: Ceremony of Acceptance

_CANT DECIDE WHAT I SHIP MORE_

_SKY x TY OR SKY x E-TY_

_AHEM, ANYWAYS XD TAKE THIS CHAPTER, FRIENDS. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE WAIT!_

**Chapter Thirteen: Ceremony of Acceptance**

**Time: two hours later**

**Place: the Salon, because hair dye is clearly more important than a silly ceremony :3**

**Ty's POV**

"That is _really_ black. Like, holy crap, it's almost blue."

"That would be the result of Sky telling them to make my hair blue. Instead of black."

"Oh. All right, then." Jason shakes his head, laughing slightly. "I suppose that works."

While E-Ty glares at him, I simply laugh along. "Hmm, I'm the lucky one – my hair gets to stay exactly the way it is." E-Ty switches his glare to me.

"I don't think Sky has realized it yet, but _squids are blue,"_ E-Ty whispers, seemingly getting over his temporary hatred for me. My eyes go wide.

"Oh, my- that's-" I laugh, then clamp my hand over my mouth. "That's _terrible!"_

Jason giggles, and then E-Ty rolls his eyes and pulls us both out of the hair place. "Where did Seto say to meet him?" he asks as we walk toward the city gate.

"Hmm, was it the cliff? It wasn't his lab, that's for sure; I remember him saying it wasn't big enough."

"Yeah, it was the cliff," Jason confirms as it comes into view. Though far away, it's still quite hard to miss Sky's jumping form as he bounces around on the cliff.

"Ah, you've arrived!" Seto says in greeting as we climb to their level. "E-Ty, nice color. Did Sky pick it..?" E-Ty winces and nods, and Seto bites his lip and gives us the 'don't-tell-him' look. "Okay, then! Lovely selection, Sky. E-Ty, if you could come stand here, that would be great."

E-Ty glances around at the small set-up, which consists of a podium, a tiny platform surrounded by a ring of purple-tinted grass, and a beacon with yellow light pouring upwards out of it. Seto's standing at the podium, messing with some potion ingredients. He glances up from his work and looks expectantly at E-Ty. "Coming?"

E-Ty huffs and walks up to stand on the platform. "Patience. Care to explain what this is all about?"

"Patience," Seto repeats, rolling his eyes. "Put your hand against your chest. Now, Sky and I both checked your pulse earlier, and the fact that you even had a pulse mostly confirms my theory, but I need you to check again."

"Wait, what am I checking for?" E-Ty asks, furrowing his eyebrows impatiently. Regardless, he rests his right hand against his chest, and then he nearly falls off the platform. "What was that!?"

Sky, as ignorant of social boundaries as ever, makes an "ooh" noise and bounces over to E-Ty, where he then proceeds to put his hand over where E-Ty's heart should be. "That, my dear friend, is a _heartbeat_."

E-Ty looks like he's trying to decide whether he should blush or freak out. "But- I- Sky, cut it _out,"_ he growls, pushing a frowning Sky off the platform. "Seto, explain. People from my dimension don't _have_ a heartbeat. What even _is_ a heartbeat? Is it bad!?"

Seto laughs and shakes his head, and I pat Sky's head as he sulks over to me and Jason. "It's a good thing – or, at least, it _will_ be, right after we do this ceremony," Seto says, holding up a potion that is rapidly changing colors. "Drink this."

"I'm not drinking that."

"You have to!"

"It can't even stick with a single color, how can it possibly fix anything?"

Seto closes his eyes and mutters a prayer. "Look," he says, opening his eyes again, "my magic is already only _barely_ strong enough to do the acceptance ritual. I don't have the strength to restrain you or force this down your throat. So…" Our sorcerer smirks. "Sky?"

Sky snaps out of his bad mood and grins excitedly, which is fairly concerning. Luckily, E-Ty chooses that moment to hastily gulp down the potion. He makes a face, and Sky pouts.

Seto nods approvingly. "Good. Now, Jason, Sky? You two are our witnesses." I raise an eyebrow. "Ty? I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Since we'll be adding another Ty to our dimension, we can't have the original present." I frown.

"Wait, what?" E-Ty asks. "I don't get it."

"We are accepting you as an honorary member of our dimension. When you jumped off that cliff, you proved full loyalty to Sky, and because of that…" Seto smiles. "Our dimension is your dimension. After this ritual, even our Respawn Machine will work for you. I will ask, however, that you refrain from harming our Ty, as we have next to no knowledge on what would happen in that situation." E-Ty nods eagerly, eyes wide.

"All right. Ty?"

I sigh. "Okay, okay. See you later."

Jason and Seto wave. Sky is too excited to notice me leave.

**Sky's POV**

"Eep, aren't you excited?" I squeal at E-Ty. He frowns absentmindedly after Ty.

"Yeah, it's – this is _great._ But Ty…"

"Hmm? Oh- Bye, Ty!" I call.

"He's already gone, idiot."

"Oh." I wince. I don't want him to think I'm replacing him with his double – he always has been and always will be my best friend.

"Talk to him afterward," E-Ty suggests. I nod and smile gratefully. Ty will be fine. It's not like I'm completely ignoring him.

"You're officially a part of this dimension!" I squee excitedly. He laughs.

"Guess so."

"Not quite," Seto interrupts. "Sit down, Sky – it's time for the ritual."

I quickly plop down in the chair next to Jason. "What do we have to do?"

"Right hands over your hearts," Seto instructs us. "Now repeat after me: I acknowledge and approve of this Ceremony of Acceptance."

Jason and I do as told without hesitation.

"Good." He nods in approval. "All right, now I need you two to sit quietly while I do this." I pretend to zip my lips, and E-Ty snorts.

"Okay. E-Ty, don't move from that platform." Seto takes a deep breath, clears his throat, and then begins. "Through loyalty and selflessness, you have proven yourself worthy. To honor your sacrifice, I, speaking on behalf of my home dimension, offer you an honorary membership in my home dimension. Do you agree?" He mouths the words, "I do."

"I do," E-Ty says after a bit of lip-reading confusion during which Seto rolls his eyes a lot.

"Then it is official. You are now considered an honorary member of the dimension you stand in currently. This honorary membership can and will be revoked if you manage to somehow destroy the dimension, or if this dimension is destroyed by something or someone else and is, therefore, no longer inhabitable." Seto closes the book that I didn't notice he was reading from. "Congratulations, E-Ty. I guess, if you'd like to pick a new name or if you'd prefer to be referred to as simply 'Ty,' now would be the time to request it."

E-Ty shrugs. "The name's kinda grown on me."

Jason cheers and I go to do the same, but then Seto falls against his podium and E-Ty stumbles off the platform and I fall to my knees. Then my breath is coming in short bursts and I'm so exhausted, I'm always so exhausted.

It is hardly a surprise when my world fades, yet again, to black.


	16. Ch 14: The Grumpy Old Bird in the Void

_WOOT WOOT DEATH AND DESTRUCTION_

_SORTA XD_

**Chapter Fourteen: The Grumpy Old Bird in the Void (almost)**

**Time: two milliseconds later – approximately**

**Place: the dream/vision thingy**

**Sky's POV**

I groan when the room fades into view.

No, not again! Didn't Seto say something about the ceremony getting _rid _of the dreams? Augh, I can't even fight back…

"Well, screw you, too, Universe," I growl. The Jason copy makes heart hands and smiles sarcastically, and I sigh.

"Frustrated?" the other me asks, stepping out from behind the Quentin.

"A little bit," I hiss.

"Watch that tone," the E-Ty copy says threateningly, and suddenly I'm back in the Evil Dimension, stuttering out the official name for my favorite Minecraftian block; back in that room, clutching my sunglasses to my face, desperate to cover up my _hideous_ eyes; back under Evil-Ty's watch, wondering what I did to make my friends stop caring…

Ty- Evil-Ty- _E-Ty's copy_ smirks and takes another step toward me, sword raised high, and I squeeze my eyes shut and try not to cry.

Instead of feeling the pain of the sword, I hear the clang of metal against metal and open my eyes to see a Ty in front of me, holding up an emerald sword to match the E-Ty copy's.

"W-What? Are you-" I force a cough to clear my throat. "Are you my Ty?"

"In the weird, hopefully dream flesh," Ty replies, glancing back over his shoulder at me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, but how- why- oh my Notch, don't hurt him, you'll hurt the real E-Ty!"

Ty immediately lowers his sword, backing up and still keeping me safely behind him. But then the E-Ty copy raises his sword again-

Another E-Ty tackles the copy to the ground, throwing his sword across the room. "Sky," he shouts, pinning down the copy by his wrists, "explain what's going on!"

"I-I don't know! Are the real E-Ty?"

"Yes!" he confirms, eyes going wide as the rest of the copies jump into action. Ty raises his sword again with the flat side facing the copies.

"I don't- This is the dream Seto and I always have! I don't get it, why are you guys-"

"Jerome, _stop!"_ a voice starts, and we snap our heads over to watch the Jerome copy pushing Mitch up against the wall. Wait, no, the Mitch copy is over there…

"Hey, Fluffy!" I yell, trying to distract him from Mitch. The Jerome copy turns and growls at me. "Mitch, over here!"

Mitch darts away from Jerome and over to me and Ty. "Why is he attacking me?" he asks, looking and sounding more distressed than I've ever seen or heard him.

"It's not really him-" I begin, but then I fall to my knees, the breath knocked out of my lungs.

"Sky!" Ty shouts, shoving the Jason copy away and dropping down next to me.

E-Ty makes a noise, and we turn to look at him. "Did that hurt you?" he asks, standing over my gasping copy.

"D-Don't hurt anyone," I say weakly, letting Ty help me to my feet. "You just punched him, right? No sharp objects involved?"

"No, just punched him." He ducks as the other me, having fully recovered, swings his sword toward him. "Do our injuries carry over to the real world?"

"No, but our copies' injuries do! That's how you two got hurt earlier; I hurt your copies in the last dream. Sorry!"

"Not a problem," Ty assures me, pulling me out of the path of a flaming arrow.

"B-Biggums," Mitch whimpers, and I realize that, in the time that I have been talking, the Jerome copy has cornered Mitch again – and, apparently, slashed his sword at him several times. "Jerome, come on, it's me!" He flinches back as Jerome raises his sword again.

"Mitch!" I yell, tossing him Ty's sword. "Defend yourself! I don't know what happens if you die in here!"

Mitch catches the sword with a bit of fumbling; very unlike him. "But he's my best friend!"

"I'm not asking you to kill him, I'm just telling you to _defend yourself!"_

Mitch hesitates, but when the Jerome copy attacks again, Mitch blocks it with his sword. Jerome lets out a frustrated growl.

"Watch out," Ty says, pulling me down as the Jason slices his sword through the air above my head.

"Ty, dodge left!" E-Ty yells, and Ty jumps left, dragging me with him, just in time to avoid a swipe from his copy.

"Oh, Notch, I accidentally hit him!" Mitch calls, almost hyperventilating. "Will he be okay?"

"Where'd you hit him?"

"Just his arm, um- agh, Jerome!" He barely dodges the attack.

Then the Jerome copy leans in and whispers something in Mitch's ear, and Mitch clamps his mouth shut tight. "You're lying!" he shouts angrily after a few moments, blinking rapidly. He turns to me, looking desperate. "Sky, how long does this last?"

"I- I don't know, I think the time varies-" I start, but then the other me pushes Ty aside and I reach out to help him but the fake Jason drags him back and then the fake me steps up close to me and looks me in the eye and I wince.

"You deserve this," he whispers.

Then he drives his sword right through my stomach – slowly, slowly, pushing harder and harder. I cry out in pain, and, to my surprise, Evil-Me does, too. A spot of blood grows steadily on his suit in the exactly place where he's hurting me, but he grits his teeth and jabs the sword even farther, and then he yanks it out and falls back and I gasp and shudder and fall to the ground as my hands fly to uselessly cover the wound.

Ty screams and E-Ty curses in a too high-pitched voice and Mitch yells my name and my eyes droop and Evil-Me hisses, "I hope you keep the wounds," and my vision swims and, finally, I pass out.

* * *

The world blurs itself back together, and my first clear view is of Jason leaning over me and freaking the crap out. "Sky, please, you can't leave us, I- oh my Notch, you're awake, thank Jeb, _Sky!_"

"J-Ja- Jason, hi," I drawl. "Wassup?"

"Oh, nonono," E-Ty mumbles, stumbling off the platform and dropping down next to me. "Sky, no!"

"What happened!?" Seto asks, teleporting the few feet over to me. "I couldn't go down there with you that time – oh, Notch. _Sano._ Frick." He spouts a long string of Latin and puts his hand over my bloody shirt, but nothing changes, and I groan.

"Seto, Seto, please fix him. Is this that purple stuff Sky used on us? Please, please fix him," Ty begs, running up to the cliff and dumping a bag of potions in Seto's lap. "Sky, oh Notch," he chokes, kneeling next to me and threading his fingers through my hair. I try to hum, but it comes out a cough. Ty bites his lip.

"Thank you, Ty," Seto says, sounding relieved. He started hurriedly rifling through the bag.

"Mitch, slow down, you're hurt!" Jerome's voice yells.

"Sky is dying!" Mitch replies, and I put up a hand to wave but then groan again in pain.

"Sky- What? Why!?" Jerome asks, eyes wide as he and Mitch step up next to me.

"Later," Mitch says simply, and Jerome shuts up.

"Seto, he isn't okay yet. Why isn't he okay yet!?" Jason asks.

"'m okay," I mumble, letting my eyes fall shut.

"Sky," Ty says, his voice strained.

"Open your eyes, idiot," E-Ty huffs. "You are _not_ allowed to die on us."

"Sorry," I say, forcing my eyes open. Everything is so bright…

"Seto!" Ty cries desperately.

"Be patient!" the sorcerer snaps.

"Be nice to Ty," I grumble. Seto sighs, and Ty curls a bit of my hair around one of his fingers.

"All right, this will do," Seto says finally, pulling out a jar of that purple stuff I used on E-Ty. He pours the potion out carefully all over my torso, and I make a noise at how cold it is.

"Sorry for dunking you in this, E-Ty," I yawn.

He smiles weakly. "Don't be."

"Mm, that feels nice," I hum, properly this time.

"Oh, thank Notch," Ty sighs, letting out a huge breath, and then he helps me to my feet and pulls me in for a very long hug. "Don't- _do_ that," he says, voice breaking a little.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, a little surprised.

"All right," Ty says determinedly, gently pushing me away. "I'm going to lock your double up in a padded room. Or, at the very least, we're going to stop these dreams."

"I don't think we can," Seto says helplessly, handing Mitch and Jerome some purple potions. "I thought the Ceremony of Acceptance would fix it, but…"

"Why were we in the dream thing?" Mitch asks.

"Hmm. Well- Wait. Did we use the purple potion on all three of you before the dream?" Seto's eyes go wide. "Jerome, don't drink that!"

"Uh, too late..?"

Seto groans. "Okay, okay, it's fine – don't be surprised when you're with us in the next dream."

"Wait- You mean, the potions let them into your dream?" Jason asks. "What kind of potion _is_ this?"

"It's, um…" Seto winces. "It's heavily diluted essence of void."

"We just poured _void essence_ all over Sky!?" Ty asks with wide eyes. He glances at me, making sure I'm still okay.

"Ah, I kinda dunked E-Ty in it," I laugh nervously.

"And I spilled it on Ty-"

"And we drank it!"

"Calm down," Seto huffs. "It won't hurt you. I've been testing it on mobs – it doesn't seem to have any effect on them if they're harmed through normal methods, but it heals them if they've lost health after being dipped in the void. I figured it might help you guys, since we're dealing with all this dimension stuff – and it did. Apparently, it also has a few other side effects when used on players…. But we'll figure it out."

"You dangled helpless, innocent mobs in the void," Jason deadpans.

Seto shrugs. "They respawned."

"Okay, so…" Jerome takes a deep breath and then cracks a smile. "Does this mean I'm officially a part of your secret dream club?"

Mitch glares at him. "This is serious, Jerome." Dang. _Mitch _is _never_ this serious.

Jerome must realize this, because he frowns and asks softly, "You okay, Biggums?"

Mitch smiles fakely, and if I can notice how not-real a smile it is, Jerome _definitely _can. "Mitch..," he trails off.

"I'm fine," Mitch replies stubbornly. "Okay, Seto, come on. There must be a way to stop these dreams."

"Well, yeah, I'm sure there's a way, but I've got no clue what it is," Seto huffs.

"All right, so, let's just brainstorm," I suggest. "If not E-Ty's presence, then what could be causing these dreams?"

"Well, first of all, you sounded really smart just then," Jason says, and I grin proudly. "And second: are we even one hundred percent sure these things are dreams? As far as I know, you don't sustain injuries from dreams."

"Oh," I realize. "Maybe they're _not_ dreams. Maybe we're being, like, transported to another dimension!"

Seto frowns. "Only the Night Owl can transport people to other dimensions."

"Well, maybe his teleporter broken. Wouldn't be the first time one of his platform's functions messed up..," I grumble, remembering his "softer" landing.

"This is true," Seto admits. "Perhaps we should pay him a visit."

"We're off to see the Night Owl!" I sing. "The grumpy old bird in the Void!"


	17. Ch 15: To Be Dead

_*makes annoying robot noises*_

_WEL-COME TO THE WORLD OF WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKLY UP-DATES! BEEP BOOP BOP_

_ASKFJLK SJDF ANYWAYS XD_

_IM ACTUALLY REALLY EXCITED CUZ I FINALLY HAVE IDEAS AND_

_*coughs*_

_THEY TOTALLY ARENT GAY IDEAS OR ANYTHING_

_TOOOOOOTALLY NOT_

_…. PFFT._

**Chapter Fifteen: I've Always Wondered What It's Like to Be Dead**

**Time: a few minutes later**

**Place: the Night Owl's platform. **

**Sky's POV**

"Night Owl, N-O! My pal, my buddy, my main man! How's it going, bro?"

The Night Owl glares at me. "What do you want."

"Let _me_ do the talking," Seto sighs, joining the Night Owl in glaring at me. He turns back to said Night Owl and smiles diplomatically. "Hello, sir. An odd pressure has arisen in our home dimension due to a newly instated honorary member. We've completed the Ceremony of Acceptance, so it should have disappeared by now – and, while it has let up a little, something of it still remains, like a small tug on our world. Have you any idea what could be the cause of this?"

The Night Owl raises an eyebrow.

"Dude, is your magic broken," Ty huffs.

"Oh. My powers are fine, I'm transporting people just like I always do," the Night Owl replies, shrugging slightly, and Seto sighs again.

"Well. In that case – have you, perhaps, had any visitors in the past few days?" Seto asks.

"Just you guys. By the way, unless you have _official business,_ and you _never _do, could you leave already?"

"Someone rolled off the wrong side of the tree today," I mutter, and the Night Owl glares at me once more.

"Look, are you wanting a transfer, or what? Because you'll need the dimension number."

"Come on, man, do me a solid," I beg.

The bird forces a smile. "How about a visit to dimension H-36-G-9-0-0-J?"

"All right, free vacation!"

"No," Seto sighs again again, "that's the Death dimension. Jason accidentally tried to send us there last time we were on this platform." Jason blushes.

I narrow my eyes at the grumpy bird. "Well, _owl_ be darned! You tried to trick us."

The silly owl growls at me, and I grin and shrug my shoulders.

"Why does the Death dimension even exist? Like, who would want to visit?" Ty asks, tilting his head.

"Sounds like a fun ride to me," E-Ty snorts.

The Night Owl shrugs. "Family and friends go to visit with the deceased."

"Wait-" My eyes go wide. "The people in the Death dimension are actually _dead?"_

"Uh, yeah," the bird huffs, rolling his eyes. "That's why it's called the Death dimension. There is no 'afterlife' in Minecraft – only a secluded dimension. But the deceased can be very… violent. Which is why mourners usually go armed."

Seto hums, and I glance over at him to find that he has switched entirely into Sherlock mode. "So… Are the deceased capable of _leaving_ the Death dimension?" he asks slowly.

"No, never. What, you been seeing ghosts?" the Owl laughs meanly.

"Quite possibly," Seto mutters to himself, pulling out a notebook and scribbling some things in it with a pen he pulls out of thin air. "Any rumors about the deceased _escaping_?"

"It's impossible. I guard the platform, and the only way to move from any dimension is to get me to willingly teleport you – or to use some kind of magic teleportation. Magic teleportation isn't allowed in the Death dimension." He snorts. "Of course, there are always the scary bedtime stories for kids about 'ghosts' making a connection with them so they can visit them during their sleep if they're bad children."

"Oh," I realize.

"Yeah," Seto answers, rolling his eyes as though I should have realized it sooner. "You know what, Mr. Night Owl? We'll be back momentarily. For now, can you kindly transport us to our home dimension?"

The bird smirks. "Not unless you've got the dimension number."

"2-21-4-D-E-18," E-Ty spouts off.

"Notch, I hate your group."

"Noted!" I sing. "Barely soft landing, please!"

The Night Owl rolls his eyes as the world bends around us, and then we all fall on top of Seto's reinforced roof with a bunch of "oof"s and "ow"s. Ty chuckles nervously, and I hold out a hand to help him up as he speaks to Seto. "Why did we come back here..?"

"Yeah, man, what the crap?" I ask, turning to help E-Ty up as well.

"We need weapons," Seto says, rolling his eyes, and I can practically _hear_ him adding on the word "morons" in his head.

"Hey, don't call us morons!" Jason pouts. Oh, he said it out loud. _That's_ why I heard it. It all makes sense now.

"His words, not mine," E-Ty grumbles, motioning to Seto.

"Glad to know you're with us, E-Ty," I giggle before _fearlessly_ jumping off of Seto's roof. "Remember last time I did this? I totally almost died."

E-Ty crosses his arms, and Ty glares at me.

"U-Um… budder for sale?" I try, wincing afterwards. The two just shake their heads in disapproval. "Heh. Okay then."

"Just grab a bunch of weapons and armor," Seto instructs us as he, too, jumps off the roof, "and then meet back in the lab."

"Yes, sir!" I shout, saluting as I do so.

* * *

Five minutes later, we're armed to the teeth and the Night Owl is sighing in exasperation and teleporting us to the ever-so-lovely _Death dimension._

Seto only raises an eyebrow while the rest of us partially panic about the fact that literally the only color in this dimension is _grey._ Moonlight glints off of Ian's glasses, and it might also be worth mentioning that the moonlight is the only light we have, and the night doesn't seem like it's going to end anytime in the next century. "It's dark," I say.

"You guys should be called the 'Captain Obvious' dimension," E-Ty huffs, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, yeah? Well- Well- Uh, squids! Ha!" I fist-pump the air and turn to high-five Ty. "Burn!"

Ty rolls his eyes but high-fives me anyways, and I grin victoriously as though that simple action justifies my intense lack of comebacks.

"So… What? What are we doing here, exactly?" Mitch asks, glancing around at the dull buildings.

"We're breaking whatever connection they have with our dimension so they can't keep initiating these dream sequences," Seto answers, striding forward. "Any ideas as to where to look first?"

"Well, I guess we need to find the other us, then," I say, shrugging slightly as I run after Seto. "If I were me, where would I be?"

Ty facepalms, and Quentin snorts, and most of the group just ignores my useless input. But E-Ty freezes, and his head snaps over so that he's staring right into my eyes. "I-" He swallows hard. "I could see Sky again? _My_ Sky? The _real_ my Sky."

"Uh...," Jason begins, but I'm quite proud to say that I don't doubt E-Ty's loyalty to us, not even a little. And I _do_ understand his grief – honestly, while we're here, we might as _well_ let those two hug it out or something.

"Could he, Seto?" I ask excitedly, bouncing a little in my shoes.

"Quite possibly," Seto replies cautiously, and I smile wide.

"Haha, this is great, E-Ty!"

"We'll see," Seto tells us both before leading us all into the first building he comes to. "If we're lucky, we'll find whatever we need to find right here in this first building."

"Seems a little too easy," Ian mumbles as we push open the doors and enter the room. It's huge, a high ceiling and a checkered tiled floor that looks like it should be black and white but instead is just grey and darker grey. This floor seems to be empty, but there's a large staircase in the corner of room, with the bottom stair oddly close to the wall so that running down the staircase would likely result in you slamming your face into said wall.

"Uh… Should we check upstairs then?" I ask.

"Maybe we should have split up," Jason says, "to cover more ground and all that."

"You're stupid," Seto replies blankly, and so we all walk up the stairs with Jason grumbling quietly behind us.

"What are we looking for again?" E-Ty asks, though it's clear _he's _only looking for his Sky.

"I don't know. Our copies? An oddly mesmerizing magical projector? Who knows," Seto huffs, so E-Ty stops asking.

"Holy _crap!" _I sing in a high-pitched voice. "Oddly mesmerizing magical projector, check."

Everyone spins around to look back at me where I've fallen behind to peek through the window of a locked door. Can't see _much,_ 'cause the window needs a serious Windex session, but I can at least see the light flickering on the wall and putting together the blurry image of a pig. Before I can ask Seto to magic open the door, E-Ty and Ty are pushing me out of the way and shoulder-ramming the door together, and I'm shrugging and letting them in. Hey, I mean, they did the work, they might as well see the room first.

"Is this the thing that's letting them connect to your – _our_ – dreams?" Ty asks, glancing back at Seto and then over at me. I just shrug while I wait for Seto to handle it, and then I walk over to the small table the projector is set up on. It looks old, but it _is_ oddly mesmerizing in that- Well, I- I don't know. I just feel like it's newer than anything else could ever be.

"Most likely, yes," Seto finally replies, seemingly as entranced as I am.

"Woah," Jason breathes. "How old is this thing?"

"I don't believe it _has_ an age," Seto says quietly, and no one asks him to further explain. E-Ty, who looks thoroughly disappointed, rolls his eyes and begins running his hands along the walls, looking for any hidden doors, I guess. Ty is staring hard at the projector like he's one hundred percent ready to slam it on the floor and do some eighties disco moves on top of its grave, and Mitch is running his hand along the projection on the wall while his other hand latches tight to Jerome's. "What _is _this thing? I've never seen anything like it."

"Uh… Man, I don't know," I say, shrugging yet again. I'm actually pretty done with this room. Ty looks _very_ jittery. E-Ty looks like he's ready to grab my hand and bolt, and I'm just not up for whatever other surprises this room could have in store for us. "Can't we, like… move on? Or shut this thing down, or whatever."

"No, no, we can't interfere if it's something vital to this dimension's wellbeing; we can't doom an entire population all because of the meddling of a few ghosts," Seto rebukes me, and I put up my hands in a defensive position as he turns his attention back to the projector and runs his fingers over some of the buttons. "Hmm. I would _assume _that this device would project a live image of the desired dimension on the wall here, and one would then be able to – in some way – _jump_ into the picture. But that… No, that can't be what's happening with us. In all our dreams, we've been present in a seemingly timeless and placeless area surrounded by naught but the void."

"Oh my Notch, Seto. No one says 'naught' anymore."

He shoots me a glare. _"I _do. Anyways, for the projector to still fit into our problem, it would have to somehow be capable of temporarily creating a new dimension to transport our _spirits_ to- But- If the copies in our dreams were our own 'Misunderstood' dimension copies, then why would they repeat the same sequence each time the dream began? Wouldn't they just continue where they'd left off in the last dream? Oh, I don't understand."

"Yeah, neither does anyone else," I huff.

"Look, do I smash it, or what?" Ty asks.

"Don't smash it. Let's find our copies instead," Seto says after some thought.

"Hooray," E-Ty says sarcastically, but Notch knows he's not being the least bit sarcastic.

"Up more stairs, then?" I ask, sighing.

"Yeah," Seto says. "Up more stairs."


End file.
